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Reims Cathedral. 



THE 

MODERN WORLD 

FROM CHARLEMAGNE TO THE PRESENT TIME 

WITH A PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF 
ANCIENT TIMES 

BY 

Rev. FRANCIS S. BETTEN, SJ. 

I' 

AND 

Rev. ALFRED KAUFMANN, S.J. 



. . ars historica quae tantum habet 
nobilitatis. 

. . historical science endowed with 
so eminent a degree of nobil- 
ity. — Leo XIII. 



^>H< 



ALLYN AND BACON 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 

ATLANTA - SAN FRANCISCO 



A\\o3 
3^ 



COPYRIGHT. 1919. 
BY ALLYN AND BACON 



UCi 24 1919 



NotSDOoD Press 

J. S. Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



•ciAsse-ip? 



PREFACE 

In his letter on Historical Studies Pope Leo XIII says among 
other things : Est autem in usum scholarum confectio commen- 
tariorum necessaria, qui salva veritate et nullo adolescentium 
periculo ipsam artem historicam illustrare et augere que ant. 
"It is necessary that for the use of the schools textbooks be 
composed which are calculated, with due regard for truth and 
without exposing the young students to any pitfalls, to expound 
and propagate the science of history." Encouraged by these 
words the authors have undertaken to issue the present work. 

The book, like F. Betten's Ancient World, aims to furnish an 
abundance of material much of which is not found in other 
books accessible to students. From this teachers will make 
their own selection. Several sections, Chapter VII for instance, 
are readily recognized as reference matter. These sections may 
be omitted whenever a shorter course is desired. 

The authors have freely utilized the information contained 
in a great variety of works, large and small, and they wish to 
express their indebtedness to these. Thanks are due also to 
other scholars from whom it was the authors' privilege to receive 
aid and advice. In particular, however, they wish to thank 
Mr. Willis Mason West, who generously consented that entire 
passages be taken over from his own Modern World. 

May this work, too, contribute its share towards the pro- 
motion of true Christian education. 

The Authors. 



m 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Division of History . 
The Sources of History 



CHAPTER 
I. 



n. 
III. 



IV. 

V. 

VI. 



VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 



XI. 



SUMMARY OF ANCIENT TIMES 

Before the Coming of Christ 

A. From the Creation to the Dispersion of Nations 

B. The Oldest Nations after the Flood 

C. The Greeks 

D. The Roman Republic 

Jesus Christ and Christianity 

The Roman Empire 

A. The Story of the Emperors .... 

B. Topical Survey. (1) Two Centuries of Prosperity 

C. Topical Survey. (2) Two Centuries of Decline 
Rise and Victory of Christianity 
Division of the Empire . . , 

The Teutonic Conquest — 

A . The Peoples — Old and New . 

B. The Wandering of the Nations 

C. Civilization and Christianity 

D. Monasticism 

Fusion of Teuton and Roman 

Rise of the Franks . 

Mohammedanism . 

The Alliance of the Papacy and the Franks 

A. The New Frankish Dynasty 

B. Foundation of the Papal States 

The Empire of Charlemagne 

A. Charlemagne and His Wars 

B. The Revival of the Roman Empire in the West 

C. Life in Charlemagne's Empire . 



3 

6 

11 

16 

19 

22 
24 
30 
34 
43 

44 
48 
51 
55 

61 

68 

71 

77 
79 

84 
87 
89 



VI 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



BOOK I. THE ERA OF RELIGIOUS UNITY 



PART I. FROM CHARLEMAGNE TO THE END OF THE 

CRUSADES 



CHAPTER 
I. 

II. 

III. 



IV. 



Section I. Origin of the European States 

The World about a.d. 800 
Disruption of Charlemagne's Empire 

The Nations of the North and the East 

A. The Northmen 

B. The Slavs 

C. The Hungarians . . - . 
Britain Becomes England 

A. Britain and Its First Invaders . 

B. The Danish Invasion — Alfred the Great 



PAGE 

97 
102 



107 
111 
115 

117 
121 



Section II. The Political System (Feudalism) — The Church 



V. Feudalism 

A. The System Explained 

B. Military Features of Feudahsm 

VI. Life in the Feudal Age 

A. The Manor and Its Population 

B. Life of the Nobihty . 

VII. The Church . . . . 



126 
138 

143 
147 
157 



Section III. Political Development of Europe to the End of the 

Crusades 

VIII. England to the End of the Crusades 

A. The Last Saxon Kings . . . . .171 

B. Norman Influence ..... .176 

C. The Four Norman Kings 181 

D. The Plantagenet Kings 184 

IX. France to the End of the Crusades . ... 205 

X. Germany and Italy to the End of the Crusades 

A. The First Rulers after the Carohngians . . .213 

B. The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation . 217 

C. The Hohenstaufen Emperors 224 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Vll 



CHAPTER 

XL 



XIL 



XIII. 



XIV. 



Section IV. The Period of the Crusades 

PAGE 

Reformatory Movements in the Church . . 235 

A. The Evils in the Church 236 

B. Reform Popes and Their Struggles .... 239 

C. The Mendicant Orders 247 

The Age of Crusades 

A. The Christian and the Mohammedan Orient . . 250 

B. The Crusades 255 

C. The Results of the Crusades . . . . . 269 
Medieval Cities 

A. Character 274 

B. The Gilds . . . . . . . .277 

C. The Cities as States 281 

Learning and Arts 

A. Literature 286 

B. Schools and Universities ...... 288 

C. Doctrines and Teachers in the Universities . , 291 

D. Architecture 298 

PART 11. FROM THE END OF THE CRUSADES TO THE 
DISRUPTION OF RELIGIOUS UNITY 

England and France 

A. First Two Periods of the Hundred Years' War . 303 

B. English Development during the War . . .. 308 

C. France : Close of the Hundred Years' War . .316 

D. England and the Wars of the Roses . . • . 320 

E. Ireland 324 

Germany and Her Dependencies .... 327 
Other Nations 

A. The Struggle against Mohammedanism . . . 336 

B. The Countries of the Northeast and North . . 340 

Church and Papacy in the -Ratter Part of the 
Middle Ages 

A. The Inquisition ....... 343 

B. The Period of Avignon and the Western Schism . 347 
The Period of the Renaissance 

A. The Renaissance Proper : the Revival of Classic Lit- 
erature . . . , . . , . . 357 

B. Inventions, Discoveries, Arts . '. . . . 362 



XV. 



XVI. 
XVII. 



XVIII. 



XIX. 



Vlll 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



BOOK II. FROM THE DISRUPTION OF RELIGIOUS 
UNITY TO OUR OWN TIMES 



PART I. THE DISRUPTION OF RELIGIOUS UNITY 



CHAPTER 

XX. 
XXI. 



XXII. 



XXIII. 
XXIV. 



Need and Possibility of True Reform . 
The Reformation Period on the Continent 

A. The Protestant Reformation in Germany 

B. Emperor Charles V. . 

C. Further Extension of Protestantism 
The British Isles during the Reformation Period 

A. England : (1) Henry VIII and Edward VI 
England : (2) Mary the Cathohc 
England: (3) Ehzabeth . 

B. Ireland ..... 

C. Scotland ..... 
False and True Reform . 
Religious Wars 

A. The Revolution of the Netherlands against Spain 

B. Other Spanish Affairs ..... 

C. Religious Wars in France . . . .' 

D. The Thirty Years' War 



PAGE 

369 

375 

38-1 
387 

391 
398 
402 
406 
408 

412 

415 
420 
423 
426 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Reims Cathedral ..... 

The Word N dbuchodonosor in Cuneiform Script 
Hieroglyphic Script ..... 

Sphinx and Pyramids in Egypt . 
Temiple of Jerusalem. — A "Restoration" . 
Cooking Utensils Found at Cnossus in Crete 
Acropolis at Athens. — A "Restoration" 
Greek Soldier ...... 

The Claudian Aqueduct .... 

Ancient Monograms of Christ 

Inner View of St. Paul's Gate, Pome 

Roman Chariot Race. — A modern imaginative painting 

Crypt of St. Cecilia in the Catacombs of St. Calixtus 

Church of "St. John-in-the-Lateran," Rome 

The "Monogram Page" of the Book of Kells 

Shrine of St. Patrick's Bell . 

Abbey of Citeaux .... 

The Tara Brooch .... 

Church of St. Sophia, Constantinople . 

Judicial Combat. — Religious preparations 

Judicial Combat. — Companion piece to the foregoing 

Seventh Century Villa 

Repast in the Hall of a Prankish Noble 

A Prankish Warrior .... 

Mosque of Omar .... 

Seal of Charlemagne .... 

Walls of Constantinople To-day . 
Cathedral of Aachen .... 

Remains of a Viking Ship . 

St. Martin's Church Near Canterbury 

Carnarvon Castle, Wales 

A Baron's Court . . . . . 



PAGE 

Frontispiece 



IX 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



An Act of Homage .... 

A German Knight of the Twelfth Century 

Knight in Plate Armor, visor up 

Drawbridge and Portcullis . 

Medieval Castle of the Larger Sort, with Moat and Drawbridge 

The Castle of Pierrefonds in the Fourteenth Century 

Villeins Receiving Directions for Work 

Jugglers ........ 

Ancient Manor House, Melichope, England 

Hall of Stoke Castle . 

A Reaper's Cart Going Uphill 

Peasants' May Dance . 

A Victor in a Tournament . 

A Court Fool 

The Exercise of the Quintain 

Durham Cathedral. — Norman Style 

Speyer Cathedral. — Romanesque Style 

York Cathedral. — Gothic Style 

Anglo-vSaxon Plowing .... 

A Norman Ship. — From the Bayeux Tapestry . 
Battle of Hastings. — From the Bayeux Tapestry 
Statue of William the Conqueror at Falaise 
Opening Lines of Magna Carta. — Reduced facsimile 
Sections 39 and 40 of Magna Carta 
A Gold Florin of St. Louis IX ... . 

The Temporal and the Spiritual Power 
Castle of Barbarossa on the Rhine 
Moorish Vase . . . . . . 

Court of Lions, Alhambra ..... 

A Crusader. — From a thirteenth century manuscript 

Crusaders on the March. — Old representation 

Church of the Holy Sepulcher 

Effigies of Knights Templar 

Siege of a Medieval Town. — -The summons to surrender 

Medieval Town Hall, Oudenarde, Belgium . 

City Gate at Aigues Mortes. — A town in Southern France 



PAGE 

133 
136 
136 
138 
139 
140 
141 
143 
144 
144 
145 
147 
148 
151 
152 
160 
164 
167 
171 
174 
175 
177 
193 
194 
210 
217 
224 
253 
254 
258 
262 
265 
268 
•274 
275 
276 



ILLUSTRATIONS Xl 



The "Ducal Palace," Venice. — Residence of the "Doge" , . . 282 

St. Mark's Cathedral, Venice 283 

Friar Teaching the Globe. — From a thirteenth century manuscript . 294 

Amiens Cathedral. — Gothic Style 299 

Flying Buttresses. — From Norwich Cathedral . . . , . 301 

Dress of French Ladies, Fourteenth Century 304 

English Lady on Horseback, Fourteenth Century .... 304 

A "Bombard." — From a sixteenth century German woodcut . . 307 

A Fourteenth Century Bridge in Rural England, near Danby . . 309 

English Carriage, Fourteenth Century ...... 310 

Effigy from the Tomb of the Black Prince 313 

Joan of Arc at Orleans. — From a modern picture in the Pantheon at 

Paris 318 

Warwick Castle 321 

Illustration from a Fifteenth Century Manuscript, showing Maxi- 
milian of Austria, his queen, Mary of Burgundy, and their Son 

Philip 331 

Petrarch . . . . . = . . . . • * • 358 

St. Peter's Church, Rome . .364 

Sir Thomas More. — After a portrait painted by Holbein . . . 394 
Henry IV Confiding the Government to the Queen. — From a paint- 
ing by Rubens in the Louvre . ... . . . . 425 



MAPS 



PAGE 

Field of Ancient History .5 

First Homes of Civilization ....... after 8 

Persian Empire after 10 

Greece ............ 13 

Roman Empire .......... after 16 

Germanic Kingdoms on Roman Soil ...... after 48 

Some of the Most Influential Medieval Monasteries .... 57 

Europe at the End of Seventh Century ..... after 74 

The Four Great Powers at the Time of Charlemagne . . . after 98 

Realms of the Carolingian Kings after the Division of "Verdun , after 102 

Norse Settlements 108 

Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms about 802 . . . . . . .118 

England and the Danelagh about 900 ...... 123 

Empire of Knut the Great ......... 172 

Europe about 1000 . ^ after 206 

England and France after 208 

German Dukedoms about 900 ........ 214 

German Colonization on the East ...... after 216 

Eastern Empire in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries . . .251 

The World During the Crusades after 256 

Crusading States during the Twelfth Century ..... 259 

The Latin Empire at Constantinople ....... 266 

Dominions of the Hansa and of the Teutonic Order . . . after 284 
Localities of the Hundred Years' War ...... 305 

Germany during the Interregnum ...... after 328 

The Swiss Confederation 1291-1500 333 

Spanish Kingdoms in the Middle Ages ..... after 336 
Southeastern Europe at the Entrance of the Turk . . . after 338 

Ottoman Dominions at the Time of Their Greatest Extent . . 339 

Germany about 1550 after 372 

Europe under Charles V after 386 

Ireland after 406 

The Netherlands 416 

The Territorial Changes Effected by the Thirty Years' War . after 428 

xiii 



DIVISION OF HISTORY 

ANCIENT HISTORY extends from the Creation of Man to 
the time of the Emperor Charlemagne, about a.d. 800. 

The last part of Ancient History, from about a.d. 400 to 800, was 
a period of transition. A new religion, Christianity, which had been 
previously persecuted, now spread freely over all Europe. The great 
Roman Empire disappeared. New nations with new languages and 
customs, founded new states. Whatever good these nations brought 
with them gradually blended with the inheritance of older times, and 
Christianity became the sole religion of all Europe. By a.d. 800 this 
transformation of Europe was complete. 

MODERN HISTORY extends from Charlemagne, about a.d. 
800, to our own time. This Modern History is the subject of 
the present book. 

For seven hundred years after Charlemagne all Europe was of one 
religion, the peoples and their rulers being Catholic. All recognized the 
Catholic Church with the Pope at the head as their guide in all matters, 
private and international, in which questions of Faith and Morals were 
concerned. This was the Era of Christian Unity, or Early Modern 
History. 

In the sixteenth century many nations fell away from the Church. 
Even those rulers who remained Catholic became less submissive to 
Catholic principles in the conduct of their public affairs. Various other 
causes helped to bring about a change in the views of men, in the rela- 
tion of rulers to their subjects, and of states to one another. Thus be- 
gan Later Modern History. 

Historical writers frequently employ the term Middle Ag.es, 
or Medieval Times. It denotes a period which covers about 
eleven hundred years ; namely, from a.d. 400 to 1500. During 
this period Catholic Christianity became and remained dominant. 
The term is, however, more commonly applied to the seven cen- 
turies after Charlemagne than to the four preceding him. 

Agreeably to a wish expressed by many teachers, a "Summary of 
Ancient Times " has been prefixed to the present volume. It affords 
a welcome opportunity to represent Jesus Christ as the real center of 
all human historv. 

1 



THE SOURCES OF HISTORY 

1. The student learns of the many events and facts which 
make up the history of mankind from the historical books writ- 
ten and published in our own days. But how do the authors 
of these books know what happened centuries ago ? They 
consult what we call the sources of history. These are of three 
kinds : 

(1) Oral traditions. The stories of happenings of the past, if 
handed down and propagated by word of mouth only, are called oral 
traditions. Though such stories very frequently have undergone 
changes in the course of time and have become more or less fabulous, 
yet historians are often able to discover in them a certain amount of 
truth. 

(2) Relics. By relics we understand the weapons, tools, household 
goods, and many other articles of ornament or utility, which were 
used by men of former ages ; also their works of art, the ruins of their 
buildings, the very remains of their dead, buried in simple graves or 
elaborate mausoleums ; finally pictorial representations and sculpture. 

(3) Written Records. Such records as inscriptions and especially 
manuscript or printed books constitute the most important historical 
source,^ coming from persons who are both able and willing to tell the 
truth. 

The noblest of all written records is the Bible. Its real author is 
God Himself, since He " inspired " those who wrote it in His name. 
Its various parts, called " books, " date from about 1500 b.c. to 100 
A.D. Its historical information is practically confined to the Hebrews, 
the chosen people of God. But incidentally it gives precious ref- 
erences and hints concerning the most ancient nations of the world. 

1 Written records are lacking for the history of some nations or for 
certain periods of their earliest existence. Such nations or periods we call 
prehistoric. This term is, however, by no means synonymous with savage. 
Relics may show a high degree of civilization in a prehistoric people. 

2 



A SUMMARY OF ANCIENT TIMES 

CHAPTER I 

BEFORE THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST 

A. From the Creation to the Dispersion of Nations 

2. Before the Deluge. — '' In the beginning God created 
heaven and earth." In six periods of uncertain duration, which 
Holy Writ calls " days," He further prepared the dwelling place 
of man. Finally He " formed man of the slime of the earth and 
breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a 
living soul." Man thus came directly from the hands of his 
Creator, endowed with perfect faculties of body and soul, and 
with a wonderful knowledge of the natural things which sur- 
rounded him. To make Adam the true fountainhead of man- 
kind. Eve, the first woman, was created from his body. She 
was to be his " helpmate " in the occupations of his earthly 
existence, but his perfect equal in the vocation to eternal life. 
This is the origin of matrimony. 

In the very act of creation God had raised man to an essen- 
tially higher level by endowing him with Sanctifying Grace, 
which elevated him to the supernatural order. Unfortunately 
Adam failed to stand the test of fidelity and lost Sanctifying 
Grace for himself and all his posterity. 

But in His mercy God promised a Redeemer, who was to atone for 
the offenses against His Divine Majesty and regain for mankind the 
possibility of entering the supernatural bliss for which the human race 
was created. 

3 



4 BEFORE THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST [§ 3 

3. The Deluge. — Adam's descendants multiplied rapidly. 
But wickedness also increased among them, so much so that 
God resolved to destroy all men by a terrible inundation which 
we call the Deluge. Only Noah with his wife, his three sons and 
their wives, were to be saved in the Ark, a huge ship built by 
Noah at the command of God. All other persons perished in 
that appalling catastrophe. 

We do not know how many qenturies before Christ Adam was created, 
nor at what exact date the Deluge took place. The Church does not 
condemn those who think mankind existed much longer than the tra- 
ditional four thousand years before the birth of the Savior. But con- 
scientious scientists assure us that there is no reason to go beyond eight 
or ten thousand years before Christ for the creation of man. The Del- 
uge extended at least far enough over the earth to destroy all men save 
those in the Ark, All men now living are descendants of Noah. 

4. Spread of the Human Race. — The three sons of Noah 
became the ancestors of three families of nations. The de- 
scendants of Sem (Shem) are called the Semites; to them belong 
the Assyrians, Arabs, Jews. Cham (Ham) was the father of 
the Hamites, among whom are the Chanaanites (the first in- 
habitants of Palestine), the Babylonians, Egyptians, and the 
Negroes of Africa. The Aryans or Indo- Europeans were the 
offspring of Japhet. They comprise the Hindoos of India, the 
Medes and Persians, the Greeks, Italians, Celts, Germans, and 
Slavs. 

But mixture of races and the influence of climate and country 
produced a vastly greater variety of nationalities. There is 
in fact scarcely any people which represents unmixed stock. 
Hence it is that we can hardly trace the origin of such nations 
as the Chinese and Japanese. But racial diversities among 
the inhabitants of the globe, however pronounced, furnish no 
solid reason for doubting the unity of the human race. 

5. CiviUzation after the Flood. — At the time of the Deluge 
mankind had reached a high degree of civilization. Men were 



§5] 



CIVILIZATION AFTER THE FLOOD 



acquainted with various arts and even skilled as metalworkers. 
Nor was this precious heirloom suddenly lost. The various 
tribes took it along to their new domiciles. But those that 
settled in less favorable regions and lost connection with the 
stream of original civilization might forget or fail to practice 
much of what they or their fathers had seen in their ancient 




'BORMAY 4 CO.,N.Y. 60 



Field of Ancient History. 

homes. Their civilization thus gradually sank to a lower level 
and was likely to sink still more with every new generation. 
The natural sources of history disclose the fact that nations 
living at the same time but in different countries show a re- 
markable difference in civilization. Some, rendered helpless 
by isolation or the poverty of their soil, resorted to hunting and 
fishing for their livelihood, and to wood or bone or stone for 
their implements. Intellectual civilization also, that is the taste 
for arts of all kinds, could by degrees be wholly or partially lost. 



6 BEFORE THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST [§ 6 

But some nations always kept the torch of material and intellectual 
culture burning and in their turn spread its light abroad. They even 
added to it, each nation according to its own character, by devising 
better methods of government for cities and empires, and by building 
up systems of every kind of science. By vigorous contact with them 
other races could be reclaimed from barbarism. Thus Divine Provi- 
dence watched over the greatest natural possession of mankind. God 
did more for its religious interests. 

6. Religion after the Flood. — Again men fell from the purity 
of religion which they had inherited from their ancestors. They 
began to adore false gods, thereby violating one of their gravest 
obligations, namely, to give supreme worship to the true God 
alone, " Who made heaven and earth." The other duties also, 
which are known to every man by the natural light of reason, 
came to be widely disregarded. 

But the Almighty forgot not the promise He had given to 
Adam and Eve. While the world was sinking deeper and deeper 
into idolatry and wickedness, He took care that at least one 
nation remained faithful, and persevered in waiting for the 
appearance of " the light for the revelation of the Gentiles." 
This nation, the Hebrews or Jews, is not by any means the 
oldest nation. Abraham, their ancestor, lived about the year 
2000 B.C. But over no other people did God exercise such a 
wcfnderful protection. 

The importance of the Hebrews for the religious and moral culture 
of the world is paramount. Through them a small place was preserved 
in the wide world, where never ceased the worship of the true God, and 
where the Redeemer was to find a starting point for his life work. 

B. The Oldest Nations after the Flood 

It is impossible for us to treat of all the nations which arose soon 
after the Deluge or at later times. A complete universal history would 
include the Chinese and the many other peoples of the Far East of Asia. 
In this book we confine ourselves to those nations from which many 
of the elements of our present-day civilization have been drawn. 



§7] THE BABYLONIAN NATIONS 7 

7. The Babylonian Nations and the Egyptians we must con- 
sider first. The history of both goes back to about 5000 years 
before Christ. 

In the Valley of the Euphrates and Tigris lived the Chaldeans, 
the Babylonians, and the Assyrians, all of whom are frequently 
mentioned in the Bible. For the greater part of their existence 
they formed but one kingdom. Their kings ruled with absolute 
power ; that is, the people had no part in the government. But 
many of those monarchs governed well. King Hammurabi is fa- 
mous for the excellent laws he gave to the country, which in many 
ways have not been surpassed by the most modern legislators. 

The people used a kind of writing which is called " cunei- 
form," wedge-shaped, because its characters are made up of 
strokes which resemble wedges. They wrote on bricks when 
the clay was soft and 
baked them after- 
wards. Many of their 
writings have been 
preserved and are 
now found by thou- 
sands in the ruins of their buildings. They had books on agri- 
culture, mathematics, and astronomy — all on brick tablets. 
The Babylonians knew the week of seven days with one ^' day 
of rest for the soul," which was afterwards made a strict duty for 
the Jews by the thii'd commandment of the Decalog. They 
invented our sun-dial and water clock, and devised an excellent 
system of weights and measures based on the length of the hand 
and foot. The face of our watches to-day, with its divisions by 
twelve and by sixties, recalls their work, as also do the curious 
figures on our star maps ; the signs of the zodiac in our almanacs ; 
the symbols of our Apothecaries' table, still used by our 
physicians ; many of our carpenters' tools and much of our 
common kitchen ware — even some of our fairy stories, like 
that of Cinderella. 



The Word Nabuchodonosor in Cunei- 
form Script. 



8 BEFORE THE COMING OP JESUS CHRIST [§ 8 

They erected splendid buildings, chiefly of sun-dried bricks, 
produced beautiful and majestic statues, and left many in- 
scriptions in stone and on rocks. 

8. The Egyptians, on the banks of the Nile, were, like the 
Babylonians, ruled by despotic kings. The characters used 
in their writings are called " hieroglyphs," sacred letters. 
The immense number of their literary works, ranging from 
novels to scientific treatises of all branches, were written on a 

Hieroglyphic Script. 
The name of King Ptolemy is distinguished by a Une drawn around it. 

material called papyrus.^ From them we have the year of 365 J 
days. They, too, erected large and magnificent buildings, but 
of massive stone, and placed statues, often of gigantic size, 
in the public places and along streets and avenues. The walls 
of their temples and palaces resemble libraries in stone on 
account of the numerous and extensive inscriptions engraved 
on them. 

In both countries the overflow of the rivers was used to fertilize 
the fields, and for this purpose miles of canals and dikes and 
gigantic reservoirs were constructed. 

9. Civilization. — Both countries possessed a high degree of 
material and intellectual civilization, but it soon became rigid 
and unfit for any further development. The religious decay, 
spoken of in § 6, had set in. False gods were worshiped, 
the natural law inscribed in every man's heart was flagrantly 
and publicly violated. Yet the people were not entirely bad. 
Some persons practiced kindness towards their neighbor, and 

1 It was prepared from the stem of a reed called by this name. From it 
our word "paper" is derived. 



§10] 



THE HEBREWS 



9 



the civil authority on the whole succeeded in upholding law 
and order and protecting the essential rights of individuals, 
for instance, the right of property. 

10. The Hebrews. — Between Babylonia and Egypt lay 
Palestine, the land of the Chosen People of God. For many 




Sphinx and Pyramids in Egypt. 

Now about five thousand years old. The sphinxes were figures having a 
lion's body and a human head to express both strength and wisdom. The 
pyramids, built of massive stones, were tombs of kings. Some are nearly five 
hundred feet high. 

centuries this small nation was not disturbed by its mighty 
neighbors. Under the great kings, David and Solomon (about 
1000 B.C.), it even extended its rule over other tribes and 
kingdoms. But after it had fallen into idolatry, God allowed 
the people to be carried into captivity to Babylonia, and the 
capital, Jerusalem, to be destroyed by Nabuchodonosor, King 
of the Babylonians. Later on, however, Cyrus the Great, King 



10 



BEFORE THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST [§11 



of Persia, permitted them to return (§ 11). They rebuilt 
Jerusalem and the temple, and ever after remained faithful to 
the God of their Fathers, the God " Who made heaven and 
earth." 

11. The Persians. — In the middle of the sixth century before 
Christ another power arose in Asia^ the Persians. Their king, 




Temple of Jerusalem. — A "Restoration." 



Cyrus the Great, took possession of Babylonia and many other 
countries. His successors conquered Egypt and soon became 
masters of all the lands from the river Indus in the East to the 
iEgean Sea in the West. In the West they met with the 
Greeks, who lived on both sides of the iEgean Sea. Those on 
the Asiatic side were overpowered, but those in Greece proper 
repelled the armies of Darius and Xerxes, then the kings of 
Persia, and retained their liberty (§16). 

Among the Persians, religion had not sunk so low as with the 
Babylonians and Egyptians, though it had lost much of its 



§12] 



THE GREEK PEOPLE 



11 



original purity. The Persians rendered great services to 
civilization by warding off the inroads of the barbarous Scyth- 
ians from the North and by giving their vast realm an efficient 
administration. They made no new inventions, but they fos- 
tered whatever science and art they found in the countries 
they conquered. By building the first extensive highways 
known in history, they greatly encouraged commerce. 

C. The Greeks 

12. The Greek People. — As early as 3000 B.C. the coasts 
and islands of the Aegean Sea were inhabited by a race of talented 




Cooking Utensils Found at Cnossos in Crete. 



and enterprising men. The most ancient books tell us indeed 
very little, if anything, about them, nor have we succeeded in 
deciphering their inscriptions. But the remnants of their 
buildings and of other things they were able to produce show 



12 .BEFORE THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST [§ 13 

them to have been a highly cultured people. The center of their 
civilization was the island of Crete. 

After 1500 B.C., other races immigrated into these countries. 
At first they stood on a lower level. But possessing the same 
mental agility, resourcefulness, and originality, they worked out 
a civilization entirely their own. They finally grew into one 
nation which is known in history as the Greeks. The Greeks are 
rightly called the teachers of mankind in things natural. They 
lived not only in the country still called Greece, but also on all 
the islands and coasts of the Aegean Sea, including the coast of 
Asia Minor. Within the next several hundred years they estab- 
lished countless settlements along the shores of the Black Sea' 
and the Mediterranean. 

13. Geography had much to do with the character of their 
institutions. — They did not dwell in vast plains nor in the 
long-stretched valleys of mighty rivers. Their several settle- 
ments had no great common material interests to guard, nor 
miles of dikes to construct and to maintain. They inhabited 
numerous small islands, and their towns on the continent were 
separated from one another by mountain ridges, which though 
not precluding all intercourse threw every settlement more or 
less upon its own resources. The soil, on the whole, less fertile 
than in the great Oriental realms, required more labor to wrest 
from it the means of a livelihood. There was in consequence 
a stronger feeling of equality among these many cities. In- 
dividual men, too, felt more the equals of their neighbors. 
Greece is the home of democracy. Not even the Greek kings 
of the early times claimed the despotic powers enjoyed by 
Oriental rulers. Greece never was one large common political 
unit. This is the cause of its final downfall, but it is also one 
of the causes of Greek originality and versatility of thought. In 
the times of Grecian greatness every cit}^ was a little republic, 
but none ruled itself in exactly the same manner as its neighbor. 
Oriental iiniformity had given way to European diversity. 



§14] 



GREEK ARTS AND LITERATURE 



13 



No doubt the variety and wondrous beauty of the country, 
or rather countries, the interminghng of land and water, of hill 
and dale and sun-lit ocean, had contributed much to give the 
Greeks their many-sided genius and their lively but well- 
controlled imagination. Among all peoples before and after, 
none developed a greater love of harmony and proportion. 




Greece about the Time of the Persian War. 



14. Greek arts and literature reached a very high degree of 
perfection. Their buildings, chiefly temples, were less massive 
and colossal than those of the Orientals but the more graceful 
and attractive. The Greeks, or Hellenes, as they called them- 
selves, knew how to make excellent statues and other works of 
the sculptural art of marble as well as metal. But more im- 
portant is their literature. Their alphabet came originally from 



14 BEFORE THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST [§ 15 

the East, but they adapted it, like everything else, to the pecul- 
iar character of their language. Their oldest works, the Iliad 
and Odyssey, composed, it is said, by a blind poet, Homer, 
remain unsurpassed as models of epic poetry. Their dramas 
are essentially of the same kind as our modern plays. His- 
torians still learn from the Greek masters Thucydides and He- 
rodotus {" the father of history "). Their greatest philoso- 







Acropolis at Athens. — A "Restoration." 



phers are Socrates, who had an uncommonly clear conception of 
the immortality of the soul ; and Aristotle, the most prominent 
of all non-Christian masters (§ 271). 

In the natural sciences the Greeks made much less progress 
than we might be led to expect. They did not employ system- 
atic experiments for the purpose of discovering the secrets of 
nature. 

15. Limitations of Greek Civilization. — The brilliant Greek 
civilization was not without very serious drawbacks. (1) It 
rested essentially on slavery — less extensive indeed than that 
of the Oriental world, but involving nevertheless large numbers 



§ 16] STORY OF THE GREEKS 15 

of people. (2) Men alone partook of its benefits. Women 
received no education to speak of, and the wife, at best, was only 
a higher domestic servant. (3) Worse still, ihe moral side of 
Greek life fell far below the intellectual. The Greeks adored a 
great variety of gods and goddesses, subject to human frailties 
and low passions. Religion had no influence upon the moral 
conduct of man. Philosophers taught a lofty morality, and a 
few nobler characters practiced a certain degree of natural 
virtue. But the bulk of the people were given to an almost in- 
conceivable immorality. The chief motive for right conduct, 
as far as it went, was a certain admiration, based on natural 
grounds, for moderation and temperance. 

16. Story of the Greeks. — There was much bravery and 
patriotism in Greece. By the ever glorious battles of Marathon, 
Thermopylae, and Salamis 

they drove back, in the begin- ""^^^^-^^fe^ 

ning of the fourth century, the /l Ira^W*''***?^^. 

huge armies of the mighty Per- /^ //i^SlKv/ /^*** 

sians (§ 11). They thus saved l(c^/m^^^i'^ 

European civilization from being / yy^^^ 

crushed by the Asiatics. A ^^^^MIukS^ 

hundred and fifty years later, >r y'^^^^^) 

under the leadership of Alex- lI/ fVj 

ander the Great, king of ]\Iac- y^jl /ll (^ 

edonia, thev even conquered the ^ 

;; , ^ Greek Soldier. 

entire Persian Empire as far as 

the Indus River. Though after Alexander's death his new empire 
broke up into several kingdoms, Greek culture and language 
spread over a great part of Asia and formed a common bond of 
union between these lands. Another hundred and fifty years 
later, the Greeks had to submit to the victorious arms of the all- 
conquering Romans. But the brilliant city of Athens remained 
for a long time the most honored seat of intellectual civilization 
in the Roman Empire. 



16 BEFORE THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST [§17 

D. The Roman Republic 

17. The Romans. -7- While Greece was rising to the height of 
her civihzation there grew in Italy, the peninsula west of her, 
another power which was destined to rule the world. This was 
Rome. The city, said to have been founded in 753 B.C., was 
in the beginning an insignificant town situated upon seven 
elevations, called hills, and in the valleys between them. The 
people spoke Latin, the language of that particular part of Italy 
in which the city lay. Rome enjoyed certain geographical 
advantages. Her citizens, moreover, were the greatest warriors 
the world had ever seen, and still more remarkable were they 
for a rare genius of organization. Soon she was the head of an 
alliance of some thirty Latin towns. 

At this time Rome was a republic under two presidents called 
consuls. But there arose a fierce struggle between the lower 
classes of the citizens, or Plebeians, and the nobility, or Patri- 
cians, which resulted in a full equalization of the two orders. 
Now began a long period of conquest. Having made herself 
the mistress of all Italy, Rome reduced to subjection a number 
of countries on the western and eastern part of the Medi- 
terranean. Her fiercest antagonist was Carthage, the next 
mightiest state in the West. 

Greece was among the Eastern conquests. But the Romans 
were honest enough to recognize Grecian superiority in art 
and literature and intellectual life in general. The conquerors 
became the disciples of the conquered. Thus Greek civilization 
with all the elements received from the Eastern nations acquired 
a new opportunity to diffuse itself far and wide within the borders 
of the vast Roman dominions. 

18. Shortcomings of Republican Rome. — Not all the in- 
habitants of the vast empire were Roman citizens. And of 
those who were, few had the opportunity to vote. There was 
no representative government. If a citizen wished to make use 



50 



45 



10 



36 



30 



25 



?&"^^A>,: 



^wfejT- 



o H 



ff 



V 



^ 












o 












o 













/•^ 



,,« 



?% — ' 






D 



^.fci ^cr\" 






y^^ 












17H. 









/ v-;:&>5s«^ x:^git*"S/fe.Am.»),v,7^\')B:i.\iii B»^ . — / x-, ^ >-/ ties 

'„.,. ->-.li-^r S^ ^.0 ^ /.vfa- ,„.. fT^ll.fltKi^-^ ' <..l Z i f. 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE 

At its Greatest Extent 
With some Roman Roads 

SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES 

I 1 1 1 1 1 1 

100 200 300 400 500 

SCALE O F ROMAN MILES 

— I 1 1 1 1 



r — I — r 

100 



I r~ 

200 300 400 500 

EXPLANATION 1 

lan Empire at the Death of Caesar, M^.C. 



The Roman Empire at the Death of Caesar, M^.C. | 
Additions up to the Death of Augustus, 14 A.D. | 

Additions up to the Death of Tcajan.llT A.D. T?nTnnTi'T?nnrla 

/ / I ' 




Longitude West 



10 



Longitude 15 



East 



20 



fron 



30 35 



40 



45 



50 



55 




60 



ae 

V 



I A 



^ 



S fl- 



:^\ 



< 



tA 



Bu 



^hersonesus 






.^i^-^tj^* 









^ 
> 



--^ v-i 






v^ ^^^^&4 






E 



CYPRUSf 




^7 



^ V^ '" '%■• 

^'-- t*^ 



4/, 



^*3i 



\ ^ 









Caesareadr^i'. 

/& Jerusalem 






\ o 



^U-A^ 



aTetra 



sM-empl 
\ 






R 



li 



■^ 



o Mecca 



85 Greenwich 30 



35 



40 



45 



50 



§ 18] SHORTCOMINGS OF REPUBLICAN ROME 



17 



of his franchise, he had to be in Rome to cast his ballot. Hence 
the franchise became the privilege of those who lived in or near 
Rome and of the few who could afford to travel to the capital. 
Moreover, a considerable number of the voters in Rome formed 
a mob of unruly idlers and loafers. 

As long as Rome was a little city republic, and even while her 
sway was limited to Italy, the government was good. But when 




The Claudian Aqueduct. 

The arches supported the channel in which the water was carried — often 
from distances of twenty or more miles. Remnants of such structures are 
found in many parts of the former Roman Empire. 

the wide Mediterranean world lay at her feet, she lost her 
bearing for a time. For about a century the large dominions 
were ill governed. The moneyed men knew how to control 
the voting bodies so as to keep the public offices in the hands of a 
privileged few. They had themselves appointed governors of 
the provinces, and considered the wealth of these districts lawful 
plunder. 



18 BEFORE THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST [§ 19 

19. The Roman Emperors. — Then came Julius Caesar. 
After a long struggle with other ambitious but less capable men 
he contrived to have all the greatest offices of the republic con- 
ferred on himself alone. He was a king in reality, though he 
retained the titles of the republican functionaries. Thus he 
swept away the outgrown republic and established what is 
known as the " imperial government." From this time on 
there was but one ruler in Rome, called the '' Emperor," in 
whose hands was all the real power. From a republic Rome had 
become a monarchy. The Roman Empire, thus constituted, 
was, as far as we know, the best governed large state the world 
had ever seen. 

The Romans originally were not remarkable for learning, nor did they 
in their earlier days excel in arts and literature, in philosophy and 
science. But they learned so much from the Greeks (§ 17) that the 
writings of Latin authors form a most valuable contribution to the 
world's literature. Their direct influence upon the molding of literary 
art is by far greater than that of famous Hellas. In architecture, too, 
they received very much from their Grecian models. Those structures 
which may be said to be completely Roman were nearly all of a practical 
nature, for instance, their gigantic aqueducts. Peculiar to them is the 
employment of the vault, a contrivance of which the Greeks were 
ignorant. In road building the Romans surpassed all the older nations, 
the Persians included. But what has made the Roman Empire the 
basis of the modern world is the political and administrative features of 
its organization. 

Caesar was assassinated in the year 44 B.C. But at once 
another Caesar arose in the person of his grand-nephew, Octa- 
vianus Augustus. During the long and peaceful reign of this 
able ruler was born Jesus Christ, the promised Redeemer of 
mankind. 



CHAPTER II 



JESUS CHRIST AND CHRISTIANITY 

20. The Coming of Jesus Christ. — Religion and morality 
had sunk very low in the whole world. The highest religious 
duty of adoring the 

one true God " Who TJ TJ I T I (^ 

made heaven and ^C^ ^MXMrf I H \ 

earth " was grossly .^^^^ I M. 1 1 \# 

violated by universal 12 3 

idolatry. The right of 

the weaker members T1 ^^S g IT ^ ^ 

of the race, the child, LA I J r"^ | 1 

the slave, the woman, jf L U Li If ^^^r 

were trampled under 4 

foot. One small na- 
tion alone (§ 10) re- 
mained faithful to the 
true God and observed 
the Ten -Command- 
ments ; and it contin- 
ued to expect the 
Savior of the World, 
Who had been prom- 
ised to mankind in 
paradise. 

" In the forty-second 
year of the reign of the 
Emperor Augustus, when 
CHRIST, eternal God and 



Ancient Monograms of Christ. 

Figure 1 consists of the two first Greek letters 
of the name of -Christ. X in Greek is our CH, 
and P is a Greek R. Constantine placed this 
symbol upon the Labarum, the standard of his 
army. In Figure 2 the lines of the X have been 
turned so as to form a cross, and one of them 
becomes identical with the vertical stroke of the 
P. The center letter of Figvu-e 3 is a Greek E, 
so that there are here the three first letters of 
the name of Jesus. In later centiuies the de- 
votion of the several Christian nations has put 
its own interpretation upon these three letters. 
Figure 4 shows the first and the last letter of 
the Greek alphabet, "Alpha" and "Omega." 
It was suggested by the text, " I am the Alpha 
and Omega, the beginning and the end." Apoc. 
1,8. 

the whole world was at peace, JESUS 
Son of the eternal Father, desirous to sanc- 
19 



20 JESUS CHRIST AND CHRISTIANITY [§21 

tify the world by His most merciful coming, was born in Bethlehem of 
Juda, having become man, of the Virgin Mary." 

The world at large took no notice of this most memorable 
event. Even the nation of the Jews, whose whole existence 
had no other purpose but to prepare for His coming, acted as 
if He were of no concern to them and their national life. Later, 
during His pubhc teaching He proved Himself by words and 
miracles to be indeed the Son of God, the Messiah, foretold by 
the Prophets. But the leading factions among the Jews com- 
bined against Him and dehvered Him up to the Roman governor, 
Pontius Pilate, to be crucified. After His death and resurrection. 
His religion began to spread over the whole world. 

21. Christianity restored the worship of the true God and 
again made the Natural Law, as expressed in the Ten Command- 
ments, the moral code of human conduct. The crowning point 
of Christianity, however, is charity, " the bond of perfection," 
which sees in every man a brother redeemed by the blood of 
Christ, and makes the practice of brotherly love a duty and even 
the characteristic mark of the new religion. (See Ancient World, 
§§ 572, 573.) 

Those, however, who wish to receive the benefits of Christ's 
religion must belong to a visible society in which there is a well- 
defined difference between the governing and the governed. 
This society the Redeemer called His Church. He com- 
missioned His Apostles to preach the Gospel to all nations, 
baptize them and teach them to observe all things He had 
commanded them (Matth. xxviii. 18-20). Paramount was the 
position of St. Peter, on whom all the strength and stability 
of the Church was to rest, as an edifice rests upon its foundation. 
The Apostles were succeeded by bishops. There was in every 
larger community one bishop with full jurisdiction, but assisted 
by priests and deacons, and sometimes by other bishops. St. 
Peter's prerogative passed to his successor in the See of Rome. 
All these offices must exist as long as there are men to be saved 



§21] CHRISTIANITY 21 

by the doctrine and merits of Christ. Hence the Savior prom- 
ised the Church His divine assistance until the consummation 
of the world, so that the gates of hell will never prevail against 
her. 

We shall see how Christianity, protected by Divine Prov- 
idence, spread in the Roman Empire and beyond its borders. 



CHAPTER III 

THE ROMAN EMPIRE 

A. The Story of the Emperors 

22. Boundaries of the Empire. — A glance at the map will 
show the Roman Empire extending, at this time, around the 
whole Mediterranean Sea. Ocean waves and sandy deserts 
were its defense on the South and West. The Rhine and 
Danube rivers practically formed its northern boundary, though 
Britain, the present England, was the northernmost province. 
The Euphrates is commonly spoken of as the eastern boundary, 
but this river was not a frontier like the Rhine and Danube. 

North and east of the latter rivers lived the Germans or 
Teutons, who made constant attempts to break into the Roman 
dominions. East of the Euphrates were the aggressive Parthians, 
succeeded, later on, by a no less warlike kingdom of the Persians. 
Thus one of the chief tasks of the rulers of the empire was the 
defense of the northern and eastern frontiers. 

23. The Emperors. — The first six emperors, beginning with 
Caesar, are called the Julian Emperors, because of their relation- 
ship with Julius Caesar. The second of them, the great Augus- 
tus (41 B.C. - 14 A.D.), subjected the governors of the prov- 
inces to strict supervision, and obliged them upon the ex- 
piration of their term of office to give an account of their 
administration. As a consequence they now actively sought 
to promote the welfare of the provincials instead of enriching 
themselves at their expense (§ 18). This is only one of the good 
points of the new system of government which slowly developed 

22 



§ 24] DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 23 

under successive rulers. The last Julian emperor, the infamous 
Nero, inaugurated the first persecution of the Christians. 

The two Flavian Emperors, Vespasian and Titus (69-96), were 
efficient rulers, though they, too, persecuted the Christians. At this 
time the Jews in Palestine revolted against the Romans, and, in punish- 
ment, Jerusalem, the Holy City, was besieged and destroyed by Titus 
A.D. 70. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Our Lord : " They shall 
not leave in thee a stone upon a stone " (Luke xix. 44). 

Next is the period of the Five Good Emperors (96-180), who greatly 
pi-omoted the temporal welfare of all classes. Among them Trajan 
and Hadrian are the most famous. Persecutions of the Christians, 
however, occurred under these emperors also. 

Then comes the century of the Barrack Emperors (180-285), so 
called because nearly all of them were raised to the throne by the 
soldiers. There were twenty-five during those hundred years, and at 
one time nineteen pretenders claimed the imperial dignity. On several 
occasions the throne was literally put up at auction by the Pretorians, 
the emperors' bodyguard. In a war with the Persians, who threatened 
to overrun all the Roman provinces in Asia, the emperor Valerian was 
taken prisoner arid died in degrading captivity. He as well as his pre- 
decessor Decius had been fierce persecutors of the Christians. There 
were, however, even during the period of the Barrack Emperors several 
excellent rulers. Under Severus Alexander the empire enjoyed many 
years of internal peace, the system of the Roman laws was perfected, 
and the emperor gave his protection to the Christians. 

24. Diocletian and Constantine the Great. — A new era was 
introduced by the accession of Diocletian (§ 32), the same who 
near the close of his twenty years' reign severely persecuted the 
Christians (§ 39). To secure a more efficient administration 
and defense, he divided the vast empire into four sections, to 
be ruled by himself with three associate emperors. Diocletian 
abolished nearly all reminiscences of the old republic (§ 19). 
In imitation of the Persian kings he surrounded himself with 
royal splendor and an elaborate court ceremonial. He considered 
it more conducive to efficient government that he should be 
monarch not only in reality, as were his predecessors, but in 
name and appearance as well. 



24 THE ROMAN EMPIRE [§25 

Diocletian was eventually succeeded by Constantine the Great, 
who retained and further developed the new system. He was, 
however, the first Roman emperor to give full recognition to 
Christianity, an event which is of the utmost importance in the 
history of the world. 

B. Topical Survey. (1) Two Centuries of Prosperity 

25. Unity and Prosperity of the Empire. — Whatever 
elements of civilization the Oriental and the Western world had 
to offer ultimatel}^ found their way into the Roman Empire. 
Its territory embraced the West as well as the most important 
nations of the East, and with its vast central sea, the Medi- 
terranean, it covered an area of about the same size as the 
United States. In these countries, then, there lived under 
Roman sway about seventy-five million people. 

Practically all these lands had been annexed by wars flagrantly 
unjust, and had been for at least a century robbed and illtreated 
most sham.efully (§§ 17, 18). The fact that they now belonged 
to a wider body pohtic, and were no longer obliged to defend 
themselves against foreign aggression, must have reconciled 
them somewhat to their fate. But a complete change set in 
with the introduction of the new imperial methods. There 
grew up a universal feeling of contentrnent, which resulted 
in a common and unbounded patriotism. In language and 
somewhat in culture the West remained Latin and the East 
principally Greek. Nor was the individuality of the many 
races effaced. But Spaniards and Egyptians, Greeks and 
Britons, Italians and Syrians, all came to look upon themselves 
as Romans. None of the many peoples that had been forced 
under the Roman yoke now desired to be released from its 
benevolent regime. 

26. All these millions rested in the good Roman peace for 
more than two hundred years. There were few wars during 
this period. " And the distant clash of arms on the Rhine and 



§27] CITIES ' 25 

the Danube or Euphrates scarcely disturbed the tranquillity 
of the Mediterranean lands." Few troops were seen within 
the empire, while all its parts were developing more and more. 

Northern Africa, now so sparsely inhabited, became, by irri- 
gation, the garden of the world. Celtic Gaul (the present 
France) though only lately Romanized, had its flourishing cities, 
with baths, amphitheaters, aqueducts, and famous schools of 
rhetoric and eloquence. 

The follies and vices of the wicked emperors — there were few 
bad rulers during this period — affected only the nobles of the 
capital city, while the well fixed course of the government 
went on undisturbed. To the people in the provinces the em- 
peror was the symbol of peace and prosperity. 

27. Cities. — Their number was myriad. Most of them 
counted less than 20,000 inhabitants. Alexandria as well as 
Antioch may have had half a million, and four or five other 
cities some 250,000 each. Rome probably counted two millions. 
The administration of such centers of population with their 
dangerous mobs was in the hands of imperial officials. But 
the smaller towns usually elected their own magistrates. The 
ideas of municipal government were thus perpetuated, to be 
taken up later on by the new nations. 

Pompeii, which was buried beneath the lava at the eruption of 
Mount Vesuvius in 80 a.d., was one of those smaller cities. When it 
was excavated in recent times, some 1509 political posters were found 
painted on the walls, which exhibit quite modern methods of electioneer- 
ing. A baker is nominated for quaestor (treasurer) on the ground that 
he sells " good bread." Near by a leading aristocrat is supported as 
one of whom it is known that " he will guard the treasury." Trade 
unions make some of these nominations. One " wide-open " candidate 
for aedile (police commissioner) is attacked by a wag in several posters, 
one of which reads, " All the late-drinkers ask your support for Valia." 

The ex-magistrates, in such towns, made up a " senate " 
which' voted local taxes and looked after town matters in 
general. In some towns the ordinances, initiated by these 



26 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE 



[§27 



" senates," were submitted to an assembly of the citizens for 
ratification. 

The town was the center of an agricultural district. Outside 
Italy the small farms had not yet been absorbed by latifundia 
(large estates). There was still a sturdy peasantry, each man 




Inner View of St. Paul's Gate, Rome. 

The gate itself is part of the fortifications erected in the third century un- 
der Emperor Aurelian, but received its present shape 200 years later. The 
pyramid, about 120 feet high, was built in b. c. 12 as the tomb of one Cajus 
Cestus. By this way St. Paul was led out to execution. 



owning his own farm or holding as tenant a plot which his an- 
cestors had worked under the same terms for generations. The 
larger cities, of course, were busy with industry and manufacture 
of all kinds. Each had its trades unions. The bakers' union 
of Rome listed more than 250 shops. The Emperor Hadrian, 
upon a visit to Alexandria in Egypt, wrote in a letter : " No 
one is idle here ; some work glass ; some make paper (from the 



§29] LITERATURE AND LEARNING 27 

papyrus plant) ; some weave linen. Money is the only god." 
This was true of all the big emporiums of the empire. 

28. Travel on sea and land was perfectly safe from end to 
end of the vast dominion. The ports were crowded with 
shipping, and the Mediterranean was spread with happy sails. 
One Roman writer exclaims that there are as many men upon 
the waves as upon land. The grand military roads ran in 
trunk-lines from every frontier toward the heart of the empire, 
with a network of branches in every province. This made 
possible a rapid exchange of all products of industry. Jewelry 
made in Asia Minor was worn by women in the Swiss moun- 
tains ; and Italian wines were quaffed in Britain and Cilicia. 

There was also a vast commerce with regions beyond the boundaries of 
the empire. As English and French traders, three hundred years ago, 
journeyed far into the unexplored regions of America for bargains in 
furs, so the indomitable Roman trader pressed on into parts where 
Roman legions had never camped. They visited Ireland. From the 
Baltic shores they brought back amber, furs, and flaxen German hair 
with which the dark Roman ladies liked to deck their heads. A Latin 
poet of the time speaks of the " many merchants " who amassed " im- 
mense riches " by daring voyages over the Indian Ocean to the mouth 
of the Ganges. Men traveled for -pleasure as well as for business. It 
seems to have been at least as common a thing for the gentlemen of 
Gaul or Britain to visit the wonders of Rome and of the Nile as it is for 
the modern American to spend a summer in Europe. 

29. Literature and Learning (§ 19). — It is impossible here 
even to mention the great number of poets, historians, essayists, 
philosophers, and other writers, who have made these two 
hundred years illustrious. The most important of all literary 
productions, however, were the books of the New Testament, 
whose true author is God Himself (§ 1). They were finished 
before the year 100 a.d. The three great centers of learning 
were Rome, Alexandria, and Athens. In these cities existed 
universities, as we would call them now, with numerous pro- 
fessorships and large libraries (of manuscripts). The professors 



28 THE ROMAN EMPIRE [§30 

ranked as Roman nobles, with good salaries, and assured pen- 
sions after twenty years of service. Language, rhetoric, and 
philosophy made up a group of literary studies, called the tri- 
viiuii. The sciences, music, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy 
formed the quadrivium. \mw was a specialty in Rome, medicine 
at Alexandria. 

In all the large provincial towns there were grammar schools, 
likewise endowed by the emperors. Those of Spain and Celtic 
Gaul were especially famous, and in particular the schools at 
Marseilles, xA-utun, Narbonne, Lyons, Bordeaux, Toulouse. The 
walls of the classrooms were painted with maps, dates, and li^ts 
of facts. The masters enjoyed privileges similar to those of 
the professors in the imperial universities. 

Many of the small towns possessed schools of a lower grade. But all 
this education was for the benefit of the upper and middle classes, and 
for the few bright boys of the lower ranks who were lucky enough to find 
a wealthy patron. Little was done to dispel the ignorance of the masses. 

30. Morals. — The morals of the Roman Empire do not 
represent so bright an aspect. Through idolatry they had 
*' changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of 
corruptible man." Therefore ** God delivered them up to a 
reprobate sense," and they became " filled with iniquity, avarice, 
full of envy, deceit, malignity; haughty, proud, disobedient 
to parents, without affection, without fidelity, without mercy." 
This is the verdict of St. Paul in his epistle to the Romans 
(Chapter I). 

Rome herself was indeed the very seat of iniquity. Not 
only the rabble but highly accomplished men, and women as 
well, enjoyed the bloody fights of the gladiators — men who, 
sometimes by the hundred, battled with one another in deadly 
combat. Similar atrocities were connected with the theatrical 
shows. The fact that such cruelties were clamored for In/ the 
people as a right reveals au unspeakabh/ loir standard of public 



§30] 



MORALS 



29 



morals. Among the Romans the women had always held a 
more honorable position than among the Greeks. During the 
period we speak of they enjoyed still greater liberty. This 
served, unfortunately, to estrange them more and more from 
their natural love of the home where woman reigns as queen 
of the household. Divorces, always lawful in Rome, now became 
of dreadful frequency. Child murder, the destruction of the 
blossoming life, was very general. Roman civilization, like 




Roman (jHAiiioT KArK. —A modern imai^inaiive painting. 



that of Greece, was built upon slavery, but the horrors of Roman 
slavery were greater and its effects more disastrous. The 
armies of slaves kept by the wealthy Romans deprived the 
poorer classes of many of the opportunities for work, and thus 
helped to swell the crowds of idlers who lived at the expense of 
the state. 

Where Rome led all must follow. There was no provincial 
town, however small, which did not cherish the ambition to 
become a miniature reproduction of the capital. Rome herself 
had received much of her corruption from the highly cultured 
eastern lands. She now passed it on, increased and intensified, 
to the western provinces, where it slowly but surely blighted 
the few primitive and natural virtues which had survived. 



30 THE ROMAN EMPIRE [§31 

By way of contrast to the depravity that reigned in Roman society, 
instances of kindness and compassion, of true friendship and domestic 
happiness, are found recorded. At best, however, all this was too excep- 
tional to modify the severe indictment pronounced by so competent a 
judge as the Apostle of the Gentiles. 

C. Topical Survey. (2) Two Centuries of Decline 

31. Lack of Men. — In ancient times Rome had possessed 
a considerable degree of sterling natural virtue, which secured 
the sanctity of matrimony and the respect for social relations 
and human life in general. The little that was left of this old 
morality at the time of Caesar was fast disappearing during the 
most glorious period of Rome's history. The brilliancy of her 
administration, however, prevented some of the evil effects 
from rising too boldly to the surface. It was different after the 
advent of the " Barrack Emperors." Bad rulers far out- 
numbered the good, and the machinery of the state began once 
more to weaken before the increasing attacks of immorality. 

Slavery kept on grinding down free labor. The slaves them- 
selves as a rule were not permitted to marry and the free people, 
rich and poor, did not care to have families and raise children. 
To this must be added the fearful ravages of pestilence which 
after the year 166 several times swept the empire from east 
to west. (See the effects of the Black Death on Europe (§ 286).) 
Under the good emperors the population had become stationary. 
Now, it was constantly on the decline. The only measure 
which retarded the diminution of the numbers that inhabited 
the once glorious cities and the fertile districts was the in- 
troduction of barbarians from without. As kidnaped slaves, as 
prisoners of war, as tribes admitted on friendly terms, as for- 
eign-born soldiers discharged from service, they entered the 
empire in ever increasing numbers. Still they but partially 
filled up the gaps in the population. 

Lack of men was the growing evil of the empire. More- 



§ 34] THE CLASSES OF SOCIETY 31 

over, the old warlike spirit was no longer alive in the millions that 
remained. The armies consisted chiefly of foreigners, mostly 
Germans. The citizen armies were a thing of centuries long past. 

32. The Accession of Diocletian (§ 24) wrought a change 
which gave the empire new strength for two hundred more 
years. The four great divisions, each under a separate ruler, 
were subdivided in various ways. There was now a series of 
officials in regular grades as in an army. Each official sifted 
all the business that came up to him from his subordinates 
and sent on to his superior the more important matters. This 
arrangement fixed responsibilities precisely and distributed 
duties in a workable way. It was kept up and developed under 
the next emperor, Cons tan tine the Great, and his successors. 
It maintained order in the interior and made the boundaries secure 
against the attacks of barbarians. But it was not without evil 
results. 

33. Taxes Became Crushing and Specie Became Scarce. — 
The swarms of new officials, each with a staff of assistants and 
a domestic court, must, perforce, be supported by taxation, 
while the reorganization of the army necessitated new and in- 
creasing expenses. The time came when the people dreaded 
the tax-collector more than the barbarians. There was, 
moreover, and had been for centuries, a constant drain of the 
precious metals to foreign countries (§ 28). Though the supply 
within the empire did not equal this loss, the rich continued to 
turn gold and silver into articles of ornament. Hence even the 
imperial officers were forced to take part of their salaries in 
kind — robes, horses, grain. Trade began to return to the 
primitive form of barter. (See Ancient World, § 19.) 

34. The Classes of Society Were Becoming Fixed. — At 
the top was the emperor. At the bottom were peasantry and 
artisans, who produced food and wealth wherewith to pay taxes. 
Between were two aristocracies, — a small imperial nobility, 
and a local aristocracy of each city. 



32 THE ROMAN EMPIRE [§35 

The Aristocracies. (1) The imperial nobility were great 
landed proprietors. They had many special privileges. 
Through their influence upon the government, they escaped 
most of the burdens of taxation — which they were better 
able to meet than any other class. 

The homes of these nobles, and of the wealthy men of the middle 
class, were places of comfort and luxury. The rooms were usually 
built around one or more " courts " open to the sky. In its center, 
ornamental fountains played, surrounded by flowering shrubs, with 
marble statues gleaming through the foliage. Besides his town house, 
each wealthy citizen had one or more country houses, with extensive, 
parklike grounds containing fish-ponds, vineyards, and orchards. Such 
establishments, surrounded by large walls, were called villas. The 
troops of slaves that tilled the soil had their huts leaning against the 
wall of the villa grounds ; and the more skilled artisans, — carpenters, 
smiths, bakers, — lived in somewhat better quarters. For most pur- 
poses a villa was self-sufficient. It raised its own food and prepared 
it for the table, and carried on most of the other industries necessary 
for the ordinary life of its inhabitants. 

(2) The local nobility {curials) were the families of the senate 
class (§ 27) in their respective cities. They, too, had some 
special privileges. They could not be drafted into the army or 
subjected to bodily punishment. They were compelled, how- 
ever, to undergo great expenses in connection with the offices 
they had to fill. And, in particular, they were made responsible, 
personally, for the collection of the imperial taxes in their 
districts. 

Between these local nobles and the artisans there had been, in the 
day of the early empire, a much larger middle class of landowners, 
merchants, bankers, and professional men. This class had now almost 
disappeared. Some were compelled by law to take up the duties of 
the vanishing curials. More, in the financial ruin of the period, sank 
into the working class. 

35. The Artisans had long been grouped in gilds (trades 
unions; see § 27). The gild regulated methods of work and had 



§ 36] SERFDOM 33 

great control over its members. The artisans were now hound 
each to his gild as the curial was bound to his office. Their 
condition had deteriorated very much. An edict of Diocletian 
regarding prices and wages shows that a workman received 
not more than one-tenth the wages of an American workman of 
like grade, while food and clothing cost at least one-third as 
much as now. 

36. Serfdom. When the empire began, free small-farmers 
were growing fewer over much of the realm, while great estates 
(§ 27) were growing more numerous. Grain culture decreased, 
and large areas of land ceased to be tilled. To remedy this 
state of affairs, the emperors introduced a new system. After 
successful wars, they gave large numbers of barbarian captives to 
great landlords, — thousands in a batch, — not as slaves, but 
as coloni, or serfs. The purpose was to secure a hereditary class 
of farm laborers, and so keep up the food supply. The coloni 
were really given not to the landlord, but to the land. 

They were not personal property, as slaves were. They were part 
of the real estate. They, and their children after them, were attached to 
the soil, and could not be sold off it. They had some rights which 
slaves did not have. They could contract a legal marriage, and each 
had his own plot of ground, of which he could not be dispossessed so 
long as he paid to the landlord a fixed rent in labor and in produce. 

The existence and growth of serfdom made it still more diffi- 
cult for the free small-farmer to hold his place. That class, 
more and more, sank into serfs. On the other hand, many slaves 
rose into serfdom, until the great majority of laborers on the soil 
were of this order. 



CHAPTER IV 
RISE AND VICTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 

37. First Propagation of Christianity. — Fifty days after 
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead the Holy Ghost 
descended upon the Apostles, and St. Peter preached the first 
missionary sermon to a vast crowd of Jews. Three thousand 
souls entered the newborn Church that day. The Apostles at 
first confined their efforts to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, 
wh(!re numerous communities of fervent Christians soon grew 
up. But a persecution scattered the flourishing congregation 
of Jerusalem far beyond the boundaries of Palestine. This 
resulted in the establishment of Christianity in many pagan 
cities, notably Antioch, the intellectual and commercial center 
of the Orient. St. Peter himself was the first bishop of this 
metropolis. But so far these new Christian communities were 
recruited exclusively from the Jewish colonies which existed 
in nearly all the large cities. 

Soon, however, the conversion of pagans was inaugurated, 
and assumed greater proportions. The great St. Paul, more 
than any other Apostle, made this his special task. St. Peter, 
the Prince of the Apostles, after laboring for some time in Antioch, 
transferred his residence to the Capital of the World, the city on 
the Tiber. Here he died a martyr's death by crucifixion, in the 
persecution under Nero, and here, too, St. Paul was beheaded 
on the same day. 

The arrival of the humble fisherman made Rome what she was des- 
tined to be : the residence of the Vicars of Christ on earth. It was the 
greatest event in her history. 

34 



§ 39] PERSECUTIONS 35 

Meanwhile Christ's religion continued its peaceful march of 
victory throughout the Roman world and beyond its borders. 
It is estimated that by the middle of the second century, that is 
a little more than a hundred years after the death of Christ, 
there were about a million Christians. Within another one 
hundred and fifty years this number had at least trebled, and 
may have reached ten millions. 

38. Advantages of the True Religion. — Christianity had its 
most powerful ally in the natural desire of every human soul for 
truth and happiness. The teachings of the true religion, in 
themselves so extremely reasonable, and at the same time 
proposed in so simple a garb as to be intelligible alike to the 
learned and the unlearned, naturally made a strong appeal to 
those common cravings. There was, moreover, the virtuous 
life of the faithful, especially their great charity, the miracles 
wrought by God in their behalf, and, among many other things, 
the missionary zeal of the Christians, including women and 
even slaves and last, but not least, soldiers. 

Divine Providence had prepared the world in many ways for the 
spread of the new religion. The many separate states around 
the Mediterranean had disappeared in the unity of the Roman 
Empire, and one or two languages sufficed for the whole Roman 
world (§ 25). The farther provinces were made more accessible 
by the excellent system of Roman roads and the security of 
travel on land and sea (§ 28). The Romans to a very large 
extent allowed their subjects to practice any religion they 
pleased. Greek philosophy, too, had spread ideas which, at 
least among the educated, made the assimilation of Christian 
ideas less difficult. 

39. Persecutions. — Christ's religion was, however, not 
allowed to increase in numbers without meeting serious opposi- 
tion. As the world persecuted Him while on this earth, so it 
persecuted His adherents. For nearly three hundred years 
there was hardly any time in which Christians were not suffer- 



36 



RISE AND VICTORY OF CHRISTIANITY [§39 



ing for their faith in some part of the wide empire. The so- 
called TEN PERSECUTIONS are only so many highwater 
marks of the storm-tide which never completely subsided. 




Crypt of St. Cecilia in the Catacombs of St. Calixtus. 
From The Catholic Encyclopedia. 



The causes or rather pretexts were manifold. The people could not 
bear a religion which came from so despised a race, which proclaimed 
the Divinity of one crucified as a rebel, which demanded abstention 
from gladiatorial combats and similar spectacles, which insisted upon 
the sacredness of marriage, and which enjoined the adoration of One 
God alone, to the exclusion of all others, even the " divine " emperor. 
The Christians on hearsay testimony were accused of the most heinous 
crimes, and were blamed for every calamity which befell the empire. 
'' When the Tiber rises above its banks, when the Nile does not over- 
flow, if the earth quakes, if famine and pestilence come : up goes the 
cry, ' The Christians to the lions.' " 

In the courts in general no serious attempt was made to find out the 
truth of these accusations. The trial consisted in an effort, by means of 
kindness, threats, or tortures, to make the Christians renounce their 



§40] VICTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 37 

faith. If this was successful, no mention was again made of crimes. 
Otherwise some painful kind of death was the ordinary penalty. 

The most terrible of all persecutions was that under Diocletian.^ 
For more than fifteen years he had rather favored the Christians. 
But towards the close of his otherwise beneficent reign, his 
advisers succeeded in convincing him that Christianity was a 
serious menace to the empire. With his usual energy he took 
up the struggle. The dungeons became so filled with bishops 
and clerics that no room was left for real criminals. In some 
places the executions amounted to a hundred a day, not counting 
those that were thrown to the wild beasts in the amphitheaters. 
One governor had an entire city surrounded by soldiers and set 
on fire so that all, men, women, and children, perished in the 
flames. 

During times of persecution the Christians of Rome held divine 
services in the catacombs. These are underground galleries, excavated 
in the soft rock in the neighborhood of the city, running in every 
direction, often on several levels or " stories " and widening here and 
there into rooms and spacious halls. They were the burial places of 
the Christians. Graves were hollowed out on both sides of the galleries, 
more notable ones for the popes and other prominent persons. (See 
picture.) 

After having been forgotten for many centuries, the catacombs have 
been discovered again and made the subject of veneration and study. 
The explorers find in them large numbers of inscriptions and paintings, 
which clearly show the unity of faith in all essential dogmas. 

40. Victory of Christianity. — Constantine the Great (§ 23), 
the successor of Diocletian, was the instrument employed by 
Divine Providence at last to give peace to the Church. 

Constantine was marching against Maxentius, his adversary. One 
day he beheld in the skies a fiery cross with the inscription, " In this 

1 Diocletian was one of the few persecutors that cannot be set down with- 
out quahfication as a bad ruler. Some other persecuting emperors must be 
credited, too, with a certain amount of natural virtue. We shall probably 
never find out how far these were personally guilty. 



38 



RISE AND VICTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 



[§4a 



thou wilt conquer." During the following night he saw a vision of 
Christ, who told him to approach the enemy under the standard of the 
cross. This he did. The new standard, called " Labarum, " preceded 
his host in the battle at the Milvian Bridge, near Rome, in which Maxen- 
tius suffered a crushing defeat and was drowned in the Tiber. Con- 
stantine publicly ascribed the victory to the God of the Christians. 




Church of "ISt. John-in-the-Lateran," Rome. 

The adjoining palace, donated by Constantine, served for a thousand years 
as the residence of the Sovereign Pontiffs. But after their return from 
Avignon they began to reside in the Vatican. (§ 327 ff .) 

In the year 313 Constantine published his famous Edict of 
Milan, by which full liberty was granted to the Christians. All 
confiscated property was restored to them, together with their 
ecclesiastical establishments. The Church obtained the power 
to hold property in its own name, and great privileges enabled 
the bishops and priests to carry out their sacred duties more 
efficiently. For the time being, paganism was not prohibited, 
but it ceased to be the only religion recognized by public author- 



§41] FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIANITY 39 

ity. The emperor donated large estates to the popes and other 
bishops. In Constantine the imperial dignity obtained the 
position which Divine Providence had destined for it, namely, to 
be the protector of the Church of Christ. Unfortunately Con- 
stantine, instead of confining himself strictly to affairs within 
the province of the state, sometimes meddled with matters 
closely connected with doctrines of faith. But taken all in all 
his long reign has been the source of immense blessings to the 
world. 

His most momentous step of a purely secular character was 
the transfer of the capital to his new city of Constantinople on 
the Bosphorus. No emperor ever again made Rome his 
permanent residence. It still remained the Queen of the World, 
but became more and more the city of the popes. The papacy 
was thus enabled to develop its great resources more freely 
and independently. 

One of Constantine's successors, Julian, fell away from Christianity 
to paganism (hence his epithet, " the Apostate ") and tried to restore 
the old religion. It was in vain. Forty years later paganism was for- 
bidden by Theodosius the Great, though it took a long time before it 
actually disappeared.^ 

The Edict of Milan was the most momenfous step ever taken by 
any secular ruler. It threw the history of the world into new channels. 
The fact that it happened just at this time made possible the conversion 
and civilization of the German barbarians who later on conquered the 
Roman Empire politically. 

41. Further Development of Christianity. — The Church 
now began her public career, as the reformer of human society. 
Her supreme mission was to restore the adoration of the One 
True God " Who made heaven and earth," and to undo by the 
power of the Divine Savior the effects of Adam's sin in the souls 

^ Paganism remained longest in the open country. Hence its name, 
which comes from a Latin word meaning rustic. For a similar reason the 
Christianized Teutons spoke of their non-Christian tribesmen as heathens 
(heath-dwellers). 



40 



RISE AND VICTORY OF CHRISTIANITY [§41 



of men. Our previous remarks on Roman morals (§ 30) 
outline to some extent the gigantic task she was to accomplish.^ 

Slavery was not in- 
deed abolished at one 
blow. But the Church 
insisted on the equality 
of all men before God 
and encouraged the vol- 
untary manumission of 
slaves. The laws, re- 
vised in a Christian spirit 
by the emperors, safe- 
guarded the essential 
rights of slaves. Other 
circumstances not under 
the control of the Church 
contributed also to the 
same end and slavery 
gradually disappeared 
(§ 36). 



Soon after the Edict 
of Milan had been 
proclaimed, Arius, a 
priest of Alexandria 
in Egypt, began to 
preach the doctrine 
that Jesus Christ is 
not God but only 
God's noblestcreature. 
This heresy struck at 
Constantine, with the 
to assemble at Nicaea 




The "Monogram Page" of the Book of 
Kells. 

The Book of Kells is an Irish manuscript con- 
taining the four Gospels and some other minor 
works. It dates from about 700 a.d. "No 
words can describe the beauty and splendor of 
the richly colored initial letters." This page, 
themost famous, shows the monogram of Christ. 

the very root of Christianity. In 325 
approval of the pope, caused a Council 



1 It was during this period that, for the purpose of more efficient adminis- 
tration, archbishoprics or ecclesiastical provinces were established, each con- 
sisting of several bishoprics or dioceses, under an archbishop or metropolitan. 
St. Peter had been the first bishop of Antioch and had commissioned his 



§42] FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIANITY 41 



in Asia Minor where this dangerous heresy was condemned by 
318 bishops, met under the presidency of three papal legates. 
42. While the interior of the empire was thus more and more 
Christianized, missionaries 
went in great numbers into 
foreign lands. They estab- 
lished fervent Christian 
communities in the new 
Persian kingdom (§ 22) and 
in other non-Roman coun- 
tries. In this work of ex- 
pansion St. Patrick played 
an important part.^ In 
432 he set out for the con- 
version of Ireland. The 
result of his labors was an 
intensely Christian nation, 
whose religious earnestness 
showed itself in the rise of 
numerous and well-peopled 
monastic establishments. 
In the troublous times 
which were to come over 
the continent, science, both 
sacred and profane, found 
a refuge in these Irish convents. 




Shrine of St. Patrick's Bell. 

A work similar to the Tara Brooch. (See 
picture on page 59.) It was made about 
the beginning of the twelfth century. 



Irish monks under St. Columba 



disciple, St. Mark, to found the bishopric of Alexandria. The bishops of 
these two sees were now looked upon as superior in dignity and power to the 
archbishops. They were called Patriarchs. In the West the successor of 
St. Peter in Rome acted as patriarch, besides being the head of the whole 
Church. Later on Jerusalem and Constantinople were also raised to the 
dignity of patriarchates. Primates rank above all the archbishops and 
bishops of a certain nation or country. The subdivision of dioceses into 
regular parishes is of much later date. Distant country districts, however, 
were always taken care of in a somewhat parish-like fashion. 

^ Special Report : St. Patrick. — T. W. Allies, Monastic Life, pp. 174 if. 



42 RISE AND VICTORY OF CHRISTIANITY^ [§42 

undertook the Christianization of present Scotland, where they 
founded, upon the Island of lona, a great monastery as the 
center and base of then* pious enterprises. The monks of Ireland 
and lona contributed largely to the complete Christianization 
and civilization of Central Europe (§ 62). 

Some of the German tribes which lived upon the border of the 
empire were Christianized by Arians. Later on, when forcing 
their way across the frontiers, they brought their Arianism 
with them. These tribes have vanished from history, as we 
shall see. Those only survived which professed the ** Nicene 
Creed." 

For Further Reading. — Conway, C. P., Studies in Church History: 
Christian Asceticism, pp. 3-31 ; The Government of the Church in the 
First Century, pp. 32-55; Christianity and the Roman Law, pp. 56- 
70. — Fiction: Spillman, S. J., Lucius Flavus (a tale of the eve of 
the destruction of Jerusalem). O'Reilly, A. J., The Martyrs of the 
Colosseum. Wiseman, Card., Fahiola (a tale of the Catacombs). 



CHAPTER V 
DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE 

43. The Later Empire. — Constantine the Great divided the 
government of the empire among his three sons. One of them 
finally obtained the whole. Similar divisions and reunions 
took place several times. But the East and West showed an 
increasing tendency to fall apart. Constantinople remained 
the capital of the whole when the empire was united, and of the 
East when the West was separated. The emperors of the 
Western half resided either in Milan or at Ravenna. The 
dividing line, roughly speaking, was the Adriatic Sea. The 
Eastern division was later on called the Greek Empire on account 
of the language prevailing there ; or the Byzantine Empire from 
Byzantium, the original name of Constantinople (§ 40). The 
succession of Western emperors ceased entirely in 476, when 
Odoaker, king of an invading German nation, declared the 
young Emperor Romulus Augustulus deposed, sent the imperial 
robes of state to Constantinople, and proclaimed himself ruler 
in the name of the far-off emperor. 

These repeated divisions were not thought to constitute 
different empires. On the contrary the idea of the ONE empire 
as the secular center of Christian and civilized society was so 
firmly rooted in the minds of men, that a world without the 
empire seemed a thing impossible. The invaders, as we shall 
see, fought against the Roman legions, even against the person 
o^ the emperor; but they would never profess themselves 
enemies of the empire itself. 

43 



CHAPTER VI 

THE TEUTONIC CONQUEST 

(Migration of Nations) 

A. The Peoples — Old and New 

44. The Population of the Empire — The Celto-Romans. — 

Ethnically the population within the empire remained much the 
same as -during the previous period, with the exception of the 
quiet infiltration of Germanic settlers along the boundaries, 
and in some places of the interior (§ 26). The rising power of 
Christianity did not work any change in this regard. In- 
tellectual life, too, moved essentially in the same channels, 
except that pagan ideas yielded to Christian truth. The same 
cities remained its principal seats. Special mention, however, 
is due to the Celtic populcition in northern Italy, in Gaul, and 
northern Spain. These Celts were thoroughly Romanized. 
Their language had given way to that of Rome. Their schools 
more than rivaled those in other parts of the empire (§ 24). 
A remarkable number of the foremost writers of the time 
sprung from these regions or received their education there. 
At the beginning of the fifth century a well-organized Christian- 
ity was the religion of all these countries. The Celts of Roman 
Britain, too, were Christians. They had been tried in the fire 
of the Diocletian persecution and were like the rest organized 
under their own bishops. 

45. In Ireland lived the only Celts not under Roman sway 
(§ 42). Christianity did not abolish the existing Irish in- 
stitutions but purified and perfected them. During the next 
three centuries the island was undisturbed by foreign invasions, 

44 



§46] THE GERMANS OR TEUTONS 45 

and reached a high degree of true civiHzation. The people 
were ruled by native chieftains and kings, called Righs, under 
the Ard-Righ, the *' King of Ireland," who resided at Tara. 
Chieftainship and kingship were elective, though limited to 
members of the chief's or king's family. An elaborate system of 
laws, controlled by a professional class of jurists, the Brehons, 
regulated all conditions and relations between high and low. 
Prose and poetry of all shapes, the drama alone excepted, were 
cultivated by professional writers. Education — there were 
convent schools and lay schools — was cast into an elaborate 
system, the full course requiring twelve years. Music was 
greatly esteemed and almost generally practiced. The products 
of the metal worker's art, and the books copied and illuminated 
at that period still rouse our highest admiration. Agriculture 
was the main occupation. Foreign trade was not neglected. 
True, life was extremely simple. All the buildings, including 
most of the numerous churches, were of wood. Domestic 
wars were waged and crimes committed. Nor did slavery 
and serfdom disappear. But in this regard the continent was 
certainly no better off. The Brehon law contained intertribal 
regulations which essentially mitigated the evils of war. The 
people as people were fervently Christian, and social intercourse 
was pervaded by genuine charity and by the refinement and polite- 
ness of a highly cultured society. — More remains to be said 
under another heading (§ 62). 

46. The Germans or Teutons ^ had long roamed beyond the 
boundary line formed by the Rhine and the Danube. Re- 
peatedly they tried to enter the empire. Thousands had indeed 
settled within its frontiers (§ 31). Now they were to force 
their way into the Roman lands as enemies. The empire in its 

1 In this historical connection the word German is used in a wider sense, 
including the ancestors of all the peoples now inhabiting Germany, Holland, 
Scandinavia, and other lands. In this sense some historians prefer Germanic. 
Teutonic is derived from Teut, the name of the fabulous ancestor of the 
whole race. 



46 THE TEUTONIC CONQUEST [§46 

present form was to come to an end, not, however, without 
exercising a lasting influence on its conquerors. New states 
were to arise, and nearly all those of modern Europe were 
developed from these Teutonic foundations. 

The Teutons possessed some primitive civilization and pecul- 
iar political institutions. Those nearer the empire were more 
advanced than the rest. All dwelt in plain huts built of wood. 
They subsisted chiefly upon the cattle they raised and by 
hunting and fishing. Agriculture, little encouraged by the 
climate and the condition of the soil, was almost exclusively left 
to the women and old men. Their commerce was barter. 
Outside of the armorer's trade handicraft was little developed. 
They had no true alphabet and no real literature ; their simple 
ballads were orally transmitted and sung to the sound of rude 
music. 

They were noted for their blue eyes and flaxen hair. Their huge 
bodies made them appear giants to the Romans. The damp and cold 
climate often made them drunkards and gluttons. They freely in- 
dulged in gambling, and when other wealth was lost would stake their 
liberty on the throw of the dice. Still they had noble traits not com- 
monly found in uncivilized peoples. They revered women. The men 
dreaded the captivity of their wives, daughters, mothers, or sisters, 
much more than their own. The Roman historian Tacitus dwells 
upon the purity and affection of their family life. They possessed, 
above all, a proud spirit of individual liberty, " a high stern sense of 
manhood, and the worth of man. ..." 

Their religion was a rude polytheism. Woden (Wotan), the 
war god, held the first place in their worship, and from him the 
noble families claimed descent. Thor or Douner, whose hurling 
hammer caused the thunder, was the god of storms and of the 
air. Freya was the deity of joy and fruitfulness.^ 

1 These Teutonic gods live still in our names for the days of the week ; 
Woden's day, Thor's day, and Freya's day are easily recognized in their 
modern dress. Tuesday and Saturday take their names from two obscure 
gods, Tiw and Saetere; while the remaining two days are the Moon's day 
and the Sun's day. 



§49] OTHER RACES 47 

47. It is erroneous to think of the Germans of those days as one poUtical 
unit. They were divided into numerous tribes, large and small, which 
occasionally waged war with one another or formed alliances with other 
nations. Language, common customs, certain unwritten laws, and 
religion were the only bond of union, and even in these respects there 
was some diversity among them. The Teutonic nations most fre- 
quently mentioned in history are the Goths, subdivided into East Goths 
(Ostrogoths) and West Goths (Visigoths), the Vandals, Burgundians, 
Lombards, Alemanni, Bavarians, Saxons, and Franks. 

48. Government. — The members of a tribe lived scattered 
in several villages, each of which had its assembly and its 
chief. There was also an assembly for the whole tribe. Many 
tribes elected kings, but only from the members of the royal 
family. The newly chosen king was raised upon a shield and 
carried through the multitude. Other tribes had no such 
common head during peace times, but created dukes as leaders 
for the management of wars. 

Powerful chiefs surrounded themselves with bands of com- 
panions who lived in the chief's household, ate at his table, 
fought his battles, and were ready to give their lives for the 
safety of their lord. To survive his death, or leave his body to 
the foe, was a lifelong disgrace. The chief, in turn, was dis- 
honored, if he failed to do his utmost for the safety of his 
companions. This '^ personal loyalty " to a great extent 
corresponded to the Roman loyalty to the state. 

49. Other Races. About this time another nation, known as the 
Slavs, began to appear in the rear of the Teutons. Under this name we 
now group the Poles, Bohemians, Slavonians, and others. Behind 
both Teutons and Slavs there looms up a confused mass of an entirely 
different stock, the Turanians (including the Mongols or Tartars), 
represented in the European population of to-day chiefly by the Magyars 
(Hungarians proper) and the Turks. The fiercest of the Turanians, 
the Huns, furnished the occasion for the beginning of the " Wandering 
of Nations " and were soon to enter the Roman Empire themselves. 



48 THE TEUTONIC CONQUEST [§50 

B. The Wandering of Nations 

50. Character. — A.d. 400 or thereabouts began the vic- 
torious entry of the Teutonic nations into the Roman world. 
They defeated the Roman armies and set up their own kingdoms 
in the midst of the Roman population. Still they had no 
thought of uprooting the empire as such. The mighty fabric 
with its wonderful methods of government, its imposing cities 
and majestic buildings, stood too high in the opinion of these 
open-hearted children of nature. They had, moreover, made 
their own the conviction of the Romans that the empire was an 
absolute necessity for the welfare of mankind and consequently 
neither should nor could be destroyed at all. The fiction pre- 
vailed that the Teutonic kings of the states founded on Roman 
soil had their power from the emperor, though in practice they 
cared little for his supremacy (§ 43). 

51. The Migrations of the Teutons. — (1) In 375 the Huns 
(§ 49) crossed the Volga and attacked the East Goths who lived 
north of the Black Sea. These in turn forced the West Goths 
out of their seats. The latter, with their wives and children, 
fled southwest to the Danube, carrying their goods in long 
lines of wooden carts. They petitioned the emperor Valens at 
Constantinople to give them lands south of the river. The 
petition was granted, but the greed of imperial agents who were 
to furnish them food soon drove them into rebellion. They 
defeated and killed the emperor and obtained better terms, 
but rose again after twenty years for the same reason. They 
now roamed for several years, plundering and devastating, 
through Greece, Dalmatia, Italy, and Gaul, settled on both 
sides of the Pyrenees, and founded the West Gothic kingdom, 
which included the south of Gaul and practically all Spain. 
The most important event during these wanderings was the 
three days' sack of Rome, the news of which struck the civilized 
world like a thunderbolt. The West Goths were Arians 




AfterJ07 the Kiagdom of the West Qothsin QaM 



! East 15 from 20 Greenwich 25 



30 



35 



10 




GERMANIC KINGDOMS 

established on 

ROJMAN SOIL 

Close of Eifth Century 

(Britain in Sixth Century) 

SCALE OF MILES 




Ijjn'ited, to a flmjiJi ,an nt;>ift^ .Mfr,ij (gteptknama) 



§52] THE MIGRATIONS OF THE TEUTONS 49 

(§§ 41, 42). Only after their conversion to Catholicity, in 
585 A.D., did they fuse with the ^' Roman " population. In 711 
their kingdom was overpowered by the Mohammedans. But 
they reconquered the Spanish peninsula by wars that lasted 
eight hundred years, and thus formed the kingdoms of Spain 
and Portugal. 

The Vandals, after a long migration and a temporary stay 
in Spain, settled in North Africa. A.d. 455 their warriors 
sailed over to Italy and inflicted upon the helpless capital of the 
world a second plundering much more frightful than the first. 
The Vandals ever remained Arians and fiercely persecuted the 
Catholic population. After a hundred years they disappeared 
from history. 

The Burgundians took possession of the Rhone valley. They 
were Arians but eventually became Catholics. On account 
of some historical connection with them, the name of Bur- 
gundy was in later times applied to several different regions. 

Italy suffered most under these invasions. People after people 
broke into the unhappy peninsula, either to find its grave 
in it or to leave it again in quest of other dwelling places. 
But each inroad caused loss of life and devastation beyond 
description. The chieftain of one of these nations was Odoaker 
(§ 43). By the beginning of the sixth century the East Goths 
had fixed their abodes in Italy under their brilliant king 
Theodoric the Great. They were and remained Arians. In 
555 their kingdom came to an end (§ 64). 

52. (2) Most of the German nations left their old homes 
entirely and sought new ones in distant lands. It was different 
with several tribes which had their habitations near the Rhine 
and the North Sea. The Alemanni, living in what is now South 
Germany, extended their abodes across the Rhine without giving 
up their former districts. 

The Franks, who dwelt on the lower Rhine, — Cologne was 
one of their cities, — pushed into Belgium where there was 



50 THE TEUTONIC CONQUEST [§53 

already a strong German population. They conquered a 
remnant of the Roman power in northern Gaul, annexed Bur- 
gundy and the whole country of the Alemanni, and eventually 
drove the West Goths out of southern Gaul. Their kingdom 
thus included nearly all of present France and a considerable 
part of Germany. From pagans they became Catholics (§ 55). 
Providence had assigned a grand mission to the Frankish nation 
(§§ 69 ff.). 

The Saxons on the south shore of the North Sea, and the Angles 
and Jutes on the Danish peninsula, did not give up their homes. 
But large multitudes of them crossed over to Britain, dislodged 
in long struggles the Celtic inhabitants, and changed the greater 
part of the island into an Anglo-Saxon country. 

53. Non-Teutonic Migrations. — After dislodging the East 
Goths, the Huns (§ 51), a savage brood of genuine Mongolian 
hordes, roamed for some time in the countries north of the 
Danube. Under their fierce leader Attila, who called himself the 
*' Scourge of God, " they invaded northern Gaul with an in- 
numerable host of forced allies. Frightful were their devasta- 
tions. But the Western Teutons united with the Romans 
against them. At Chalons the Huns were completely defeated, 
A.D. 451. This battle is one of the most important in history, 
because it saved Christianity and civilization from being exter- 
minated by Asiatic heathenism and barbarity. In 452 Attila 
turned against Italy with the intention of reducing Rome. The 
pope, St. Leo the Great, met him with no other power than his 
dignity ; and the terrible king, overawed by the pontiff's 
appearance and words, withdrew to the lands on the middle 
Danube. Soon the Huns returned into Asia. 

The regions north of the Danube, which had been evacuated by the 
Germans, were now occupied by the Slavs as far as the Elbe River. 
The formation of the later Slav kingdoms of Poland and Bohemia was 
thus prepared. Other Slavs fomid their way across the Danube, where 
there are now the Serbians, Croatians, Bosnians, Slavonians. The 



§55] LOSSES TO CIVILIZATION 51 

Bulgarians, a race chiefly Turanian but with a Slav language, repeatedly 
threatened the capital of the Eastern empire, Constantinople. 

64. The New Kingdoms. — The Teutons settled amongst the 
old Roman population, which, in most countries, had to give up 
one third of their landed estates. This loss was probably not 
felt so much by the greatly thinned numbers of inhabitants 
(§ 31). The Teutons became the ruling class, consisting of 
large and small landowners. They were not evenly distributed. 
But in the countries near the left bank of the Rhine the popu- 
lation was practically Teutonic. The Teuton king ruled over 
both parts of the inhabitants. The Romans saw in him a 
representative of the emperor, and the king was careful to keep 
up this fiction. Clovis, king of the Franks, for instance, pro- 
cured an imperial decree proclaiming him " Patrician " of 
Gaul, and he made it a point to appear at stated occasions in 
Roman consular robes. Where unity of religion had been 
secured, mutual understanding and amalgamation, on which the 
welfare and future of the kingdom depended, was greatly 
accelerated. 

Thus arose the new kingdoms. Their political fabric was the 
work of the Teutons. It was very rude. Centuries passed 
before it rose to a stage less barbaric. And yet no other element 
has since been added in any way so important to the world's 
development. In all centuries since, human progress has come 
almost wholly from Western Romano- Teutonic Europe and from 
its offshoots in other continents. 

But all this did not take place without immense losses in other 
respects, which it required a long time to remedy. 

C. Christianity and Civilization 

55. Losses to Civilization. — The invasions were the most 
terrible catastrophe that ever befell a great civilized society. 
Many of the most flourishing cities were destroyed or had 



52 THE TEUTONIC CONQUEST [§56 

suffered by repeated sackings. The treasures of art, including 
libraries, were dispersed or lost. Besides the direct loss of life 
caused by battles and otherwise, agriculture and the trade in 
foodstuffs became deranged. This further decimated the 
dwindling population. Whole country districts were deserted, 
to be inhabited only by wolves and bears. 

The new ruling class brought with them their dense ignorance. 
Illiteracy was beyond doubt the rule with the new lords. The 
old schools perished for lack of material support. There was 
no tranquil leisure and therefore no study. The traditions of 
refined and literary life were fast disappearing. Those who 
outlived the ravages, by and by sank to a lower level. Life 
became meaner, poorer, harder. Civilized tastes and arts 
began to fall into oblivion. The Franks and Goths were learn- 
ing the rudiments of civilized life ; but the Latins were losing 
all but the rudiments — and they seemed to lose faster than the 
Teutons were gaining. 

With the decay of literary activity the unity of Latin, the universal 
language, ceased. In the mouth of the people it was more and more 
corrupted and mixed with Teutonic elements. In the vast Roman 
Empire there had always been provincial differences in the language. 
But until the coming of the Teutons a man who spoke the common 
language of Gaul or Spain could also understand classical Latin when 
he heard it. The arrival of the barbarians widened the gap between 
the spoken provincial and the written language. Thus the language 
of learning became " dead " for the common people, while provincial 
differences grew more pronounced. In the course of centuries the 
dialects changed into the beginnings of the later languages of the Span- 
iards, Italians, etc. Latin remained in use amongst the clergy, but 
at that particular period many even of these knew it rather imperfectly 
(§98, footnote). In the lands along the left bank of the Rhine and in 
Britain, the language of the invaders dislodged completely whatever 
there had been of Latin. 

56. But Roman civilization was not uprooted entirely. — 
On the contrary, it slowly began to grow and develop into the 
later civilization of Christian Europe. The conquests were for 



§57] THE CHURCH THAT SAVED CIVILIZATION 53 

the most part made by numbers too small to change the char- 
acter of the population, and unable to dislodge at one blow all 
the traditions of the former refined life. Since, moreover, the 
invaders had settled chiefly in the country, the cities and towns 
as far as they survived remained Roman and preserved some 
features of the old culture and the old handicrafts. They 
kept, too, in the south of Europe, their municipal institutions. 
Finally, the old population for centuries furnished the members 
of another ruling class, the bishops and the clergy. From them 
the Teutonic lords drew most of their confidential officers and 
secretaries. And by these advisers they were gradually per- 
suaded to adopt many customs of the old civilization. In this 
way the Franks and other settlers in Gaul and northern Italy 
were civilized by the Romano-Celtic population of these 
countries. *' Gaul far more than Italy and Rome seemed called 
to be the protectress of ancient civilization. It had to its credit 
the glory of having for ages maintained a high standard of ancient 
culture for the benefit of mankind.'' (Grisar, History, Vol. Ill, 
§ 455.) Through these different agencies much of the old 
civilization which at the time seemed ruined was sooner or later 
to be recovered by the Teutonic kingdoms — so that " nearly 
every achievement of the Greeks and Romans in thought, 
science, law, and the practical arts is now a part of our 
civilization." 

57. But it was above all the Church that saved civilization 
and reared the new peoples of Europe. By the time that the 
German invaders began to pour into the Roman Empire, all 
its provinces were practically Christianized. There was every- 
where a well-established hierarchy. Bishops watched over the 
spiritual welfare of the faithful without neglecting temporal 
interests. True, the settling of the rude barbarians among the 
Christians, the concomitant weakening of public order and 
safety, the loss of life and the decline of material as well as 
intellectual civilization had a deplorable effect on morals and 



54 THE TEUTONIC CONQUEST [§57 

discipline. In Gaul, with which we are particularly concerned, 
the kings, though Catholic, often led almost pagan lives. The 
conversion of the newcomers proceeded slowly, nor must it be 
imagined that the newly converted Franks and Burgundians 
and their first descendants were at once, and without exception, 
exemplary Christians. All this reacted on the old population. 
Many of the clergy, some even among the hierarchy, sorely 
lacked the purity of morals and singleness of purpose required 
by their exalted vocation. 

All this notwithstanding, the Church was the salt that kept 
the world from complete corruption, and preserved the means 
to rise again to a higher level of civilization. The Church always 
demanded a certain degree of education in her ministers and 
provided for some kind of schools. Even in the most troubled 
periods there were priests, monks, bishops, and lay persons of 
both sexes, who were more than ordinarily inspired with zeal 
for true virtue and righteousness in themselves and their fel- 
low men. The Church protected the weak and stood for peace, 
education, industry, and right living. ** She was the chief 
force that made life tolerable for myriads of men and women 
in those dark ages." ^ She also preserved much of the forms and 
habits of the Roman law and by her advice and example im- 
proved the rude methods of the new rulers. " Only to the 
strenuous exertions of Christians and the spiritual impulse 
maintained among mankind by the new religion do we owe it 
that these ages found any pleasure in the classics of antiquity 
and did not allow them to be irrevocablv lost." 



^ Although the ages now under consideration were in many respects 
truly dark, this book will not incorporate the term "Dark Ages" in its 
text. This catchword was originally coined by anti-Christian historians 
and carries with it the insinuation that the "darkness" is chiefly due to the 
influence of Christianity. — Uniformity, too, is lacking as to the date when 
the "Dark Ages" came to an end. Sorae extend them to the time of the 
"Reformation," when Luther brought "light" into the "darkness" ; others 
give them five, others two centuries only. 



§ 59] ORIGIN OF MONASTICISM 55 

58. But no Christian institution exerted a more powerful influence 
for good than tl^e papacy. The popes ever kept their eye on the 
needs of the world at large. It was they that sent out the great 
missionaries to the new nations (§§ 41, 62). The most promi- 
nent pope of this period of storm and stress is no doubt St. 
Gregory the Great, who presided over the welfare of the Church, 
590-604. He had the consolation of welcoming into the true 
fold the Arian nations of the West Goths and the Lombards, 
and he sent St. Augustine with his monks to convert the Anglo- 
Saxons from paganism. 

About the same time lived the learned Cassiodorus (d. 570), Roman 
noble and monk, who exerted a lasting influence on the attitude of 
monasticism to learning (§ 59) ; Boethius the philosopher (d. 525), — 
for a long time trusted friend of Theodoric, the great king of the East 
Goths, — who laid the foundations of the Christian philosophy of the 
Middle Ages (§41); and the great Irishman Columbanus (d. 615), to 
be mentioned presently (§ 62) } Spain possessed its St. Isidore, bishop, 
who was, as his friend puts it, " granted to the country to save from 
the wreck the (literary) monuments of antiquity." His voluminous 
writings were of the greatest importance for the literary and scientific 
life of Europe. 

D. Monasticism 

59. Origin of Monasticism. — In her task of saving religion 
and morals and rescuing civilization in its hour of peril the 
Church was signally aided by an institution which, soon after 
the liberation of Christianity, had risen into prominence. In 
one form or another it had, however, existed from the times of 
the Redeemer Himself. This institution was monasticism. 
Men and women would entirely withdraw from the world and, 
living either as solitary hermits or in communities under a 
superior, devote themselves to the practice of piety and penance. 
The movement started in the Orient, where St. Basil was its 

^ See the excellent articles on "Christian Civilization in the Sixth Cen- 
tury," by Rev. E. F. Crowley, in Ecclesiastical Review., Vol. 54, pp. 139 ff. 



56 THE TEUTONIC CONQUEST [§60 

greatest promoter. But it spread rapidly in the West. The 
Teutonic invaders found monastic institutions, called monas- 
teries or convents, nearly everywhere. Originally each house 
had its own " Rule," drawn up by the founder or some other 
prominent man. In the first half of the sixth century St. 
Benedict (d. 543), an Italian,^ wrote his famous " Benedictine 
Rule," noted for practical wisdom and moderation. In the 
course of several centuries all the existing convents .adopted it. 
Each Benedictine Abbey was ruled by an Abbot or Abbess. 
They had, however, no common superior, the unity of the Order 
being kept up solely by the observance of the same regulations, 
St. Benedict's chief foundation was the Abbey of Monte Cassino. 

The venerable Benedictine Order still exists. In the course of time 
it has given to the Church 28 popes, over 200 cardinals, and about 
6000 archbishops and bishops. The abbeys, however, are now united 
into " Congregations " and there is at the head of the whole Order a 
"Primate" in Rome. 

The order of St. Basil is practically the only one to which all the 
numerous monastic institutions in the Orient belonged. It still exists, 
but most of its convents are separated from the Catholic Church. 

60. The Inmates of the Convents lived a life of perpetual 
poverty, chastity, and obedience. Self-sanctification was their 
chief object and the source from which sprang all their achieve- 
ments in the promotion of civilization and Christianity. Hence 
a great part of their time was given to exercises of piety and 
penance. They would settle in some uncultivated spot and by 
the work of their hands change it into well-tilled fields and 
gardens. By word and example they taught the dignity of 
manual labor, encouraged agriculture, and often showed the 
dwellers around better methods for working their fields. They 
also protected the poor against oppression by the rich and power- 
ful, because commonly even the rude invaders respected the 

1 Special Report : St. Benedict. — T. N. Allies, The Monastic Life, Ch. 
IV, "The Blessing of St. Benedict," pp. 134-173. 



§60] 



THE INMATES OF THE CONVENTS 



57 



peaceful and helpless inhabitants of the cloister. Then, too, 
the monks lovingly copied books, both spiritual and profane. 
It is they that have preserved for us the treasures of the classical 
literature of Rome and Greece. For centuries the monasteries 
were the almshouses, inns, hospitals, and schools of Christendom. 




Some of the Most Influential Medieval Monasteries. 
Crosses mark monasteries; circles, cities. 

The life of the '^ nuns " in the convents of women was similar. 
Exercises of piety, manual labor in their gardens, the instruction 
of girls in their schools, the copying of books, and needlework 
for the benefit of the poor and the service of the altar were 



58 



THE TEUTONIC CONQUEST 



[§61 



their occupations. Frequently they provided, by their own 
labor and by collecting alms, for the necessities of the mission- 
aries in far-off countries. 

The monks, for the most part, were laymen. Priestly minis- 
trations were not the original and never the sole purpose of the 

monasticism of those days. Still, 
not only did the monks and nuns 
preach a most powerful sermon by 
their example, but the results of their 
activity as missionaries are almost 
incredible. Two instances have al- 
ready been mentioned (§42), others 
will occur in the course of our narra- 
tive (§§ 76, 112). 

From the earliest period of relig- 
ious life men and women ^ promiment 
for rank and wealth entered the con- 
vents to spend their lives in piety, 
humility, and penance. Cassiodorus, 
the scion of an ancient Roman 
family, who had held the highest 
positions under the East Gothic kings 
(§ 51), founded a large monastery 
and himself joined the number of 
its monks. It is chiefly due to him that the convents of the 
West became the refuge of learning. Occasionally, it is true, 
corruption found its way into these homes of sanctity. The first 
fervor might cool, the austerities prescribed by the founder 
might come to be considered too irksome, or the increasing riches 
might lead to the relaxation of discipline. 

61. Religious Poverty is not pauperism. It consists essentially in 
this, that the individual depends upon the permission of his superior 
for the use of all things. Actual want or misery, often experienced by 




Abbey of Citeaux. 

From a miniature in a twelfth 
century manuscript. 



1 Allies, Monastic Life, Ch. Vll, "Three Nuns of Odin's Race," pp. 254 S. 



62] 



THE IRISH MONASTERIES 



59 



the first members of monastic institutions, would in the long run rather 
have a detrimental effect upon the observance of religious discipline. 
In those times it was understood that the property of each institution 
should at least enable the members to support themselves frugally by 
their own labor. Many ab- 
beys, however, grew very rich, 
chiefly because their labor had 
increased the value of their 
once barren lands. This did 
not constitute a real danger to 
discipline as long as the mo- 
nastic regulations were well 
observed. It was different 
when men obtained the posi- 
tion of abbots who were not 
imbued with the right spirit. 
Such persons, mostly intruded 
by secular interference, ad- 
ministered the property for 
their own benefit and cared 
nothing for the enforcement 
of the rules. Other causes, 
too, often exerted a deterio- 
rating influence on monastic 
Ufe. 

62. The Irish Monas- 
teries. — During the in- 
roads of the Teutons the 
European continent was 
like a storm-tossed sea. 
But the waves of destruc- 
tion did not reach the 
Green Isle (§ 45). Her 
numerous convents fos- 
tered not only piety and 
penance, but learning, 
both religious and secular. 
Here with Holy Scripture 




The Tara Brooch. 

It was probably made shortly before the 
tenth century. It is ornamented all over 
with amber, glass, and enamel, and with 
the characteristic Irish filigree or inter- 
laced work in metal, " Perhaps the finest 
specimen of ancient metal work remaining 
in any country." — Joyce. 



60 THE TEUTONIC CONQUEST [§62 

and the Church Fathers the ancient classics were read and 
studied. Men traveled from beyond the seas to this haven of 
sanctity and learning and found a hospitable reception. They 
returned more ardent in their faith and better equipped with 
whatever knowledge the times were able to offer. The Irish 
monks themselves emigrated in large numbers to other lands. 
For the love of God they wished to be far away from all 
that was dear to them. They settled chiefly in the regions 
which had suffered most from the invasions. Here they estab- 
lished themselves as hermits or founded convents, which soon 
were recruited from the surrounding population. Where it 
was desirable they preached to Christians and pagans, and their 
schools secured religious as well as secular education to the 
rising generation. Thus both piety and learning received a new 
impetus through their presence. 

Foremost among these island Celts was St. Columhan,^ who with his 
disciples founded a number of convents in and near the Alps among the 
Franks, Burgundians, and Lombards. Kings and bishops listened to his 
advice. He fought paganism effectively among the Alemanni (§51) 
and laid the foundation of their final conversion. Many of the later 
bishops in the Frankish kingdom were St. Columban's disciples. 

^ Special Report. — Allies, Monastic Life, pp. 149 £E. 



CHAPTER VII 
FUSION OF TEUTON AND ROMAN 

Roughly speaking, the two centuries from 400 to 600 brought the 
Teuton into the Roman world, and the next two centuries, from 600 to 
800, fused the Teutonic and Roman elements, so as to prepare for new 
advance. In strict accuracy, the two periods overlapped somewhat. 

The story of the fusion of the two groups of forces is the subject of 
this and the next two chapters. The present chapter treats a few 
important but disconnected events, as an introduction to the more 
connected story of the two following. 

63. Codification of the Roman Law. — We have said that the 
Roman Empire continued in part of Eastern Europe and in 
Asia, with its capital at Constantinople. Separated now from 
the Latin part of Europe, the Empire became more and more 
Greek and Oriental (§ 43). 

In the sixth century, after long decline, this Empire fell for 
a time to Justinian the Great (527-565). We remember him 
chiefly because he brought about a codification of the Roman law. 
In the course of centuries, that law had become an intolerable 
maze. Now a commission of able lawyers put the whole mass 
into a new form, marvelously compact, clear, and orderly. 
This is the famous Justinian Code. It represents the result 
of centuries of Roman lawmaking. It was embodied by the 
Church in her '' Canon law," as far as she stood in need of 
some secular regulations to complement the spiritual. It was 
natural that when the new Teuton kingdoms began to codify 
their own unwritten legal customs, the Justinian Code furnished 
the foundation. Without the knowledge of Roman law none, 
perhaps, of our modern codes can be fully understood, the most 

61 



62 



FUSION OF TEUTON AND ROMAN 



[§63 



indciKMidont ))riii^ tliosc ol' l^^iU^land juhI AnuM-icn. Tt is not 
witlvout very serious shortcomings, however. It does not suffi- 
ciently riH'o^nnize the value and dignity of hibor. Moreover, it 
makes the emperor the sole souree of idl right, and thus tends to 
increase the power of the princes. The excesses of some in- 




Cimucu OK St. St)i'iiiA, ('onsi'antinopmc. 

liiiill !)>• .histiiiiaii ( lu> ( )r(>:it upon (lu> sil(> of mm (>;irlitM- chvirch of (lu^ same 
11:11110 by (^»ns(:iMtiiu\ l\y Sophiti is not. iiu'Mnt sonu> S;iiiit of (his n;inu\ hut 
Divine Wisdom, aophid hriuf); (ho Grook for wisdom. Tlio wliolo iidorior is 
Uiiod with costly mniiy-colorod mnrhk^s. The domo has a oircmiifoivm'o of 
some ;U() foot. (Soo § 277.) In 1453 the building became a Mohammedan 
mosque (§ 310). The slender towers, called Minarets, are Mohammedan 
adilKions. 



dividual rulers of the Middle Ages are directly traceable to their 
unreserv(Ml adoption of Justinian's principles. 

Justinian was not an efficient financial administrator. Taxes 
rose to an enormous luMglit, without ])reventlng the employment 
of questionable methotls to (ill the imperial treasury. Justinian's 



§65] THE UNIVERSAL GOVERNMENT 63 

absolute and arbitrary power was felt in his ecclesiastical policy 
also. The emperor meddled with purely dogmatical matters 
and much more in the Church's discipline. Pope Vigilius was 
for six years kept imprisoned in Constantinople.' 

64. The Break-up of Italy. — Justinian's great generals, 
Belisarius and Narses, had destroyed the promising kingdom of 
the East Goths in Italy (§ 51). All Italy was again in full 
reality part of the Roman Empire. It was ruled by an 
" Exarch " or governor, who resided at Ravenna. Imme- 
diately after the great emperor's death, however, a new German 
people, the Lombards, swarmed into the peninsula and soon 
conquered most of it. Their kingdom was chiefly in the Po 
valley, which we still call Lombardy ; but various Lombard 
** dukedoms " were scattennl also in other parts." The Empire 
retained the extreme South and two small districts in the center 
of the peninsula with the capitals of Ravenna and Rome. These 
territories were destined to play an important part in the 
history of Europe and the world. 

Thus Italy, the middle land for which Roman and Teuton had 
struggled for centuries, was at last divided between them, and 
shattered, into fragments in the process. 

65. Men continued to think of the Roman Empire as the one 
legitimate universal government in the world, supreme over all 
local governments. We can see now that, except for slight 
survivals, the Empire had ceased in the West before the year 
500. But men of that day did not see it. They could not believe 
that the dominion of the ** Eternal City " was dead, — and 
therefore it did not altogether die (§ 54). For three hundred 



1 Such meddling by the secular power with the duties and privileges of 
the Church is often called " Byzantinism, " from the place where it was so 
frequently practiced; or "Caesaro-Papism," which signifies that Caesar, 
i.e., the temporal ruler, wishes to act as pope at the same time. 

2 On this nation, its character, language, and influence see Casartelli, 
Sketches in History, pp. 26-5L 



64 



FUSION OF TEUTON AND ROMAN 



66 



years it lived on, in the minds of men, until the coronation of 
Charlemagne made it again an external fact (§ 86). 

66. Teutonic Law. — When the barbarians came into the 
empire their only law was unwritten custom. Much of it 
remained so, especially in Britain. Under Roman influence the 
conquerors soon put parts of their law into written codes (p. 63). 

But while codification had 
crystallized the Roman 
law, the new law of the na- 
tions of Europe remained 
flexible and capable of de- 
velopment. 

Among the features in 
these new codes that justly 
surprise us were these : 

(a) The forms of trial. 
There were two kinds. 

The accused and accuser 
were each backed by com- 
purgators, — not witnesses, 
but persons who swore they 
believed that their man 
was telling the truth ; the 
number of compurgators 
required depended upon the rank of all concerned and the 
crime committed. 

Sometimes the trial was by ordeal. The ordeal was based 
on the erroneous assumption that God will rather work an 
evident miracle than allow an innocent man to be punished. 
To clear himself of a charge, the accused would, for instance, 
offer to plunge his arm into boiling water, or carry red-hot iron 
a certain distance, or walk over red-hot plowshares. If his flesh 
was found uninjured when examined some days later, he was 
declared not guilty. To prevent violence and fraud, the Church, 




Judicial Combat. 

Religious preparations : each party is 
making oath on Bible and cross to the jus- 
tice of his cause. From a fifteenth-cen- 
tury manuscript. 



§67] 



POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS 



65 



though never approving of the idea, surrounded these pro- 
ceedings with impressive sacred ceremonies. It required several 
centuries to do away finally with the barbarous custom.^ 

The nobles preferred the ordeal of the single combat, supposing 
that God would assist the arms of the innocent party. A relic 
of this ordeal is the duel, which happily is becoming rarer in our 
times. The Church inflicts 
the severest ecclesiastical 
penalties on duelists. 

(6) Offenses were atoned 
for by money payments, 
varying from a small 
amount for cutting off the 
first joint of the little finger 
to the wergeld (man- 
money) or payment for 
taking a man's life. The 
amount varied with the 
rank of the injured person. 

67. The conquest modi- 
fied the political institu- 
tions of the conquerors in 
many ways. Three changes 
call for attention. 

(a) The Teutonic kings became more absolute. In the con- 
quests, they secured large shares of confiscated lands, so that 
they could reward their supporters and build up a strong personal 
following. Their authority grew by custom, since, in the con- 
fusion of the times, all sorts of matters were necessarily left to 
their decision. 

1 Such tests ,were sometimes made by deputy; hence our phrase, "to 
go through fire and water" for a friend. The byword, "he is in hot water," 
comes also from these trials.; and so, too, the later test of witchcraft by 
throwing suspected old women into a pond, to sink or float. See Davis, 
Readings, II, Nos. 138, 139 (the latter on "ordeals"). 




Judicial Combat. 

A companion piece to the foregoing 
illustration. 



66 



FUSION OF TEUTON AND ROMAN 



[§67 



Moreover, the Roman idea of absolute power in the head of 
the state, as expressed in the Justinian code (§ 63), had its 
influence on the views of the Teutonic rulers and subjects: 
The idea that the king was after all only the head of a real 
though rude democracy slowly began to give way to more auto- 
cratic sentiments. 

At his accession, indeed, each king was still lifted upon a 
shield, just as in the old Teutonic ceremony ; and the spear in 

his hand remained the 
symbol of royal power. 
But he also adopted many 
Roman forms . C oins rep- 
resent the kings in the 
Roman toga and with the 
imperial diadem. 

(b) A new nobility of 
service appeared. The king 
rewarded his most faith- 
ful and trusted followers 
with grants of lands, and 
gave them important powers of government, as rulers (counts 
and dukes). 

(c) The assemblies of freemen decreased in importance. In 
the German forests the most important element in the govern- 
ment of a tribe had been these assemblies. They survived in 
form, in England as occasional " Folkmoots," and in the 
Frankish kingdom as " Mayfields," but, though not without 
influence, they now had a merely advisory capacity. 




Seventh Century Villa 
A "restoration, 



from Parmentier's great 
work. 



At the same time, while these assemblies of the whole nation lost 
their democratic elements, they kept much of their old character for 
various local units, as in the counties of the Teutonic kingdoms of 
England. Thus the Teutons did carry into the Roman world a new 
chance for democracy. It is not correct to say that they gave us 
representative government; hut they did give the world another chance 



§68] THE CITIES OF THE ROMAN TIMES 67 

to develop it. In England, as we shall see, representative institutions 
grew out of these local assemblies. 

68. The Cities of the Roman Times had suffered more in the 
North than in the South. The Teutons disHked the narrow 
streets of towns. They hved in the country, giving their time 
to farming and hunting. Their estabhshments, rudely fortified, 
commonly produced everything they needed, and their free and 
unfree laborers supplied what little handicraft was desirable. 

In the South, where the Teutonic elements were not strongly 
represented, much more of Roman city life and city organization 
went on in the half dilapidated towns. Sometimes colonies of 
Greeks were found in them, who were the chief merchants. 
Much more of refinement and literary taste had survived in 
these cities than in those of the North. 



CHAPTER VIII 

RISE OF THE FRANKS 

69. Clovis and His Family. — We have seen (§ 51) how the 
Franks, a confederacy of German tribes living on the banks of 
the lower Rhine, extended their habitations into Gaul and 
united that entire country together with a wide territory on the 




Repast in the Hall of a Frankish Noble. 
After a tenth century manuscript. 

right bank of the upper Rhine into one kingdom. This was 
chiefly the work of one man, King Clovis (Chlodwig, Ludwig, 
Louis, Aloysius), the founder of Frankish greatness. When at 
the age of fifteen years he entered upon this career of aggrandize- 
ment, he was still a pagan and a real barbarian, though not 
without some noble traits of character and a shrewd mind. He 
had inherited from his father a leaning toward Christianity. 
His wife Clotilda, a Burgundian princess, was a devout Catholic. 

68 



§69] THE BAPTISM OF THE PRANKISH KING 



69 



The decisive battle against the Alemanni, in a.d. 496, which 
tradition places at Ziilpich, became the occasion of his con- 
version. In the crisis of the battle, Clovis vowed to serve the 
God of Clotilda, if he would gain the victory. His prayer being 
granted, the king and three thousand of his warriors were 
baptized. 

The Baptism of the Prankish King was a Momentous Event. 
— By it that nation which was to play the most important part 
in the political history of the future entered 
into a union with the Church, the champion 
of true righteousness and civilization. It 
brought to Clovis the good will and confidence 
of the Catholic population of Gaul and the 
hearty support of the Church authorities, in- 
cluding the papacy. While the rule of Arian 
kings was hated, the Frankish kingdom en- 
joyed the blessings of perfect religious unity. 
Nor did Clovis neglect to reconcile the polit- 
ical feelings of the Celto-Roman population 
(§ 54). 

Clovis meant to rule as a Christian king. He 
placed the Celto-Roman population on the kame 
footing as his Franks, and left the bishops undis- 
turbed in the execution of their office. He ever 
preserved an unswerving devotion to the saintly 
Clotilda, whose example and encouragement he 
followed in the practice of a far-reaching charity 
towards the unfortunate, and great liberality to- 
wards ecclesiastical institutions. At the same time, 
however, acts of violence and cruel revenge and the charge of broken 
pledges disfigure the records of his political career. ^ The nation, like 
the rulers, did not at once become thoroughly Christianized. Only 
gradually did the Church succeed in taming its wild passions. Crim- 
inals and saints often lived under the same roof. 




A Frankish 
Warrior. 



1 See, on this point, Guggenberger, Vol, 1, § 113, note. 



70 RISE OF THE FRANKS [§70 

The sons of Clovis completed the subjugation of Burgundy 
and added to their realm Bavaria and Thuringia, two districts 
well beyond the borders of the ancient Roman world. The 
family of Clovis is known, from his grandfather Merowig, as 
Merovingians. The Frankish kingdom was repeatedly divided 
and reunited. The Franks themselves spread little south of the 
Loire ; North and South Gaul remained rather distinct from 
each other in blood and language. But in spite of these divi- 
sions the unity of the Frankish rule was preserved by the co- 
operation of the kings in foreign relations, by the identity of law 
and custom in governing, and last but not least, by the bond of 
a common religion and hierarchy. In fact, historians agree that 
union with the Church was the strongest prop of the Frankish 
kingdom. 

70. The Mayors of the Palace. — Many of the later Mero- 
vingian kings were weak and indolent, and allowed the real 
power to slip from them into the hands of the Mayors of the 
Palace. These officials were originally the chiefs of the royal 
household, but the very nature of their position and the in- 
capacity of the kings enabled them to seize, one by one, all the 
powers of government. They finally became the actual rulers 
and even made their office hereditary. The last of the Mero- 
vingians, called the Do-nothings, were merely the nominal heads 
of the state. Once a year, however, they issued from their 
retirement, and with the rude pomp of their ancestors were 
driven on an ox-cart in stately procession to the popular 
assembly, the Mayfield (§ 67, c). 

The greatest of the Mayors of the Palace was Pippin of 
Heristal, who succeeded in reuniting almost the whole Frankish 
kingdom under his sway, thereby securing the ascendancy of the 
Teutonic element. His son, Charles Martel (the Hammer) is 
more famous still. He firmly established his power throughout 
the entire realm and made the Frankish kingdom the most 
powerful state in Western Europe. 



CHAPTER IX 
THE MOHAMMEDAN PERIL 

71. Mohammed. — About a century after Clovis built up 
the empire of the Franks, a mighty power arose in far-off Arabia 
— a region until then beyond the pale of history. Arabia is 
mainly a desert, with occasional small oases, and some strips 
of tillable soil near the Red Sea. The best tribes of the 4^rahs 
or Saracens ^ are related to the Jews and Assyrians (§ 4). Most 
of them had never been subject to any foreign power. Some 
noble traits in their character notwithstanding, they were given 
to a low kind of idolatry which was connected with hideous 
excesses. The few cities near the Red Sea, on the road between 
India and Europe, practiced arts and carried on commerce. 
The rest of the Arabs were wandering shepherds, — poor 
and ignorant, dwelling in black camel's hair tents, living 
from their sheep and by robbing their neighbors. 

Mecca, the most important of the cities, was the birthplace 
of Mohammed, the man destined to make Arabia for centuries 
a world power. He is described as of a retiring disposition and 
religious inclinations and subject to epileptic fits. Until forty 
he led the life of an influential merchant, but withdrew every 
year for some time into the desert, where he devoted himself to 
pious meditations. On his business tours he had picked up bits 
of information concerning Christianity and Judaism. Finally 

1 The term Saracen is sometimes applied to any Mohammedan power, 
but strictly it belongs only to the Arabs. In North Africa, the Arabs mixed 
with the native Mauritanians, and the race became known as Moors. 
These were the Mohammedans who ruled Spain for eight hundred years. 
The Turks, a Turanian race, came into the Mohammedan world from Cen- 
tral Asia. (See §§ 49 and 236.) 

71 



72 THE MOHAMMEDAN PERIL [§71 

he claimed to have had an apparition of the Archangel Gabriel, 
who, he said, announced to him that he, Mohammed, was the 
great prophet foretold by Moses. This was the beginning of the 
new religion, which he worked out further in the course of his 
life. For almost every phase and feature of it he claimed a 
special revelation. 

Mohammedanism. In comparison with the confusion and degradation 
of the Arabic religions, Mohammed's system represented a partial 
progress. Its best elements he had gathered from Christian and Jewish 
sources. The chief article of his " creed " is that " there is One God, 
' Allah,' and Mohammed is His Prophet." The service of Allah is 
Islam, and those that profess it call themselves Moslem. They deny 
the Blessed Trinity, and hold that Moses and Christ were minor proph- 
ets sent to prepare the world for the coming of Mohammed. Prayer 
five times a day, a pilgrimage to Mecca once during lifetime, fasting 
during the entire month Ramadan, and almsgiving are enjoined. And 
faithful Mohammedans rigidly submit to these laws. But strangely in 
contrast with this emphasis on good works is their " fatalism, " the 
doctrine that nobody can change the fate once destined for him or for 
anything else. The true Moslem will go to a heaven of sensual pleas- 
ures, where each of them will be waited upon by at least 80,000 slaves. 
There is a terrible hell for the bad. Polygamy is allowed ; the husband 
may divorce his wives for almost any reason, but a wife cannot leave 
her husband. The Prophet himself, after the death of his first wife, 
married several. A sure way to paradise is war against the " infidels " 
(non-Mohammedans) ; " the sword is the key to heaven." Islam 
permits revenge, and confines what might be called its charity to 
Moslems. Friday is the sacred day. Mohammed's teachings were 
collected, by his first successor, in a book called the Koran, the Moham- 
medan Bible. It is divided into 114 Suras, or chapters, without any 
system or connection. Its numerous contradictions are one of the 
causes of the rise of many sects in Mohammedanism. 

Mohammed's closest intimates accepted him at once, but for 
the first twelve years he had few other converts. His towns- 
folk of Mecca jeered at his pretensions. The priests of the old 
religion roused the people against him and at last drove him out 
of the city. 



§73] THE TWO GREAT REPULSES 73 

72. Mohammedanism Becomes a Conquering Power. — The 
emigration of the Prophet from Mecca, in 622 a.d., is the 
Hegira, the point from which the Mohammedan world reckons 
time as does Christendom from the birth of Christ. Mohammed 
now made converts rapidly by means of the sword and soon 
captured Mecca, which became the sacred city of the faith. 
His fierce warriors were almost irresistible. He himself was 
unscrupulous in the selection of means, so long as they served 
his ends. By the time of his death he ruled over all Arabia as 
Prophet and king, supreme in all matters, civil, military, and 
religious. This character descended to his successors, the 
Caliphs, and has been claimed by the chief ruler of the Moham- 
medan world ever since. 

At the head of united Arabia, the Caliphs began a career of 
conquest. They took Jerusalem, a.d. 638, and tore Palestine 
and Syria from the weak eastern empire. They destroyed the 
Persian kingdom, subjected Egypt, and by a.d. 700 their 
dominion extended from the Caucasus through Northern Africa 
to the Atlantic Ocean. Thus Europe was threatened from east 
and west. 

The conquest of Christian territory did not mean that the entire 
population was at once forced to apostatize. Christians, however, who 
remained faithful to their religion had to pay an extra tribute and, as a 
matter of fact, were very frequently subjected to vexations and even 
cruel persecutions. 

73. The Two Great Repulses. — In the East. — In 717 the 
Mohammedans appeared with a numerous force before Con- 
stantinople. The emperor, Leo III, called the Isaurian, was a 
thorough-going Byzantine, imbued with the spirit of meddling 
with matters of ecclesiastical doctrine and discipline, and 
without any respect for the consciences and pockets of his 
subjects. But he was an energetic and able general. After 
a siege of twelve months the Mohammedans were forced to 
retire, having suffered immense losses. This formidable menace 



74 THE MOHAMMEDAN PERIL [§74 

to Christianity and Europe wore itself away on the walls of the 
city of Constantine. • 

In the West. — At nearly the same time the Arabs entered 
Spain and were soon masters of the West-Gothic kingdom 
(§51), which at this critical moment was torn by domestic dissen- 
sions. Only a few remote fastnesses in the North of the pe- 
ninsula remained in the hands of valiant Christian defenders. 
Then crossing the Pyrenees, the Mohammedan flood spread 
over Gaul, even to the Loire. Now indeed it seemed " that the 
Crescent was about to round to the full." But there was the 
powerful Prankish state under its able ruler, Charles Martel. 
The danger served to reunite it completely. The Duke of Aqui- 
taine, who had long led a revolt against Prankish supremacy, 
now threw himself upon Charles' generosity and fled to him for 
aid. Under Charles' leadership the Christian army met the 
foe near Tours. Prom dawn to dark raged the fight. But at 
night the surviving Arabs stole in silent flight from their camp. 
Christianity and European civilization were again saved. 

The repulses at Constantinople and Tours rank with Mara- 
thon, Salamis, and Chalons in the long struggle between Asia 
and Europe (§§ 16, 53). In point of high significance, however, 
the parallel with Chalons is the more complete. Tours and 
Constantinople, no less signally than Chalons, saved Christian- 
ity, the only true religion — the soul of the European civilization 
that was to be. 

74. Mohammedanism after the Repulses. — Por more than 
seven centuries Europe was safe. Mohammedanism soon split 
into two empires which were more or less hostile to each other. 
The Caliph of the East built, for his capital, Bagdad on the 
Tigris, which soon became one of the richest cities of the world. 
The Caliphate of the West consisted chiefly of the Spanish 
peninsula with Cordova as capital. 

Mohammedan Civilization. — Both capitals became centers of art 
and literature. In sculpture the Mohammedans did not accomplish 



§74] 



MOHAMMEDAN CIVILIZATION 



75 



much, because the Koran strictly prohibits any picture or statue. 
Their ornamentation consists chiefly of Arabesques, i.e., fancifully 
interlaced Unes, curved and straight. But many of their buildings are 
imposing. Famous are the Alhambra of Granada, and the former 
mosque, now cathedral, of Cordova, a vast building of nineteen naves. 
Their literature is less important. Its most noted production is a 
collection of fairy stories, the Thousand and One Nights. In spite of 




Mosque of Omar. 

A famous Mohammedan temple at Jerusalem on the site of Solomon's 
Temple. From a photograph. 



the prohibition of the Koran they studied the Greek philosophers, 
which Christian Syrians had translated into Arabic. It is in the Arabic 
translation that the books of Aristotle first became known to Western 
Europe (See § 271 and Ancient World, § 316). But the original works 
of the Arabian philosophers are of little value. They transmitted to 
us our " Arabic " numbers and the science of Algebra, which they had 
received from India. The same country furnished to them a better 
system of medicine, which they improved by introducing the experi- 



76 THE MOHAMMEDAN PERIL [§ 74 

mental method. They studied and in some points improved the mathe- 
matical and astronomical works of the Greeks. Many of the technical 
terms referring to these sciences are Arabic. 

Still, the genius of the Arabic nation is, on the whole, not creative. 
In later times political leadership fell to races still less capable of civil- 
ization, like the Turks (§ 236). Fatalism, slavery, and the degradation 
of woman by polygamy and its consequences were other obstacles to 
genuine progress. Mohammedan culture, despotic, uniform, stagnant, 
was sure to be outrun by the rude but progressive civilization of the 
Western World. 



CHAPTER X 
THE ALLIANCE OF THE PAPACY AND THE FRANKS 

We have seen how, by the conversion of Clovis to the Catholic re- 
ligion, the Franks entered into a close union with the Church. This 
union was to become an official alliance by the coronation of a Frankish 
king as Roman emperor. Several steps led up to this goal. The bril- 
liant defense of Western Christianity against the forces of Islam may be 
considered as one such step. But two more were to follow, namely, the 
accession of a new line of kings and the establishment of the Papal 
States. 

A. The New Frankish Dynasty 

75. Death of Charles Mattel. — Shortly after the victory at 
Tours the Dornothing king died. Charles Martel did not 
venture to take the title of king, but neither did he place any 
Merovingian on the throne. With the consent of the nobles he 
divided the dignity of Mayor of the Palace between his two sons, 
Karlman and Pippin " the Short." But these, feeling less 
secure than their victorious father, again raised a Merovingian 
king, Childeric III, and ruled in his name. Karlman, however, 
soon retired into a monastery, as indeed many princes of that 
and later ages have done. Pippin the Short was thus left sole 
Mayor of the entire kingdom. 

76. The Work of St. Boniface. — It was during the time of 
Charles Martel, Karlman, and Pippin, and with their hearty 
support, that St. Boniface,^ the Anglo-Saxon monk, began and 
finished the systematic conversion of the eastern part of the 
Frankish kingdom, which was later on to develop into modern 

^ This name, which means benefactor, was given him by the pope. His 
Saxon name was Winfrid. 

77 



78 ALLIANCE OF THE PAPACY AND FRANKS [§77 

Germany. Through him these regions entered into the life 
and organism of the CathoHc Church, a fact which naturally 
went far to promote the consolidation of the Frankish state. 

Christianity had been planted in many localities of those provinces, 
notably in the districts near the Alps, by zealous Irishmen and Franks. 
But their efforts were more or less sporadic. There were no bishops 
to provide priests for vacant stations and combat corruption, ignorance, 
and heresies. Wide regions, moreover, had never heard the voice 
of the Gospel at all. St. Boniface under incredible hardships converted 
the numerous heathens. In constant intercourse with Rome by visits 
and letters, he established bishoprics with himself as archbishop. This 
made him the Apostle of Germ any. ^ As Papal Delegate for all the 
countries north of the Alps he at last undertook, chiefly by a long series 
of Councils, a reformation of the Frankish Church in morals, discipline, 
and doctrine. Charles M artel and much more Karlman and Pippin 
gave him their powerful protection. 

During the seventh century the intercourse between Rome and the 
Frankish kingdom was reduced to a minimum. St. Boniface now for 
nearly forty years referred everything of moment to Rome, conducted 
his affairs according to instructions from Rome, and emphasized in all 
his transactions with rulers and nobles the absolute necessity of keeping 
in close touch with the center of Christian unity. This brought about 
a complete change. The whole kingdom recognized most vividly the 
position and power of the Successor of St. Peter, the common Father 
of Christendom. 

77. Accession of the Carolingians. — Pippin the Short mean- 
while thought of setting aside the nominal king and assuming 
the royal dignity himself. Such a step would enable him to 
rule with greater power and efficiency. Nor was it beyond the 
competency of the nation to remove an unfit ruler. This was a 
strictly domestic affair ; but an embassy crossed the x\lps to 

^ By thus giving rehgious unity to the German tribes east of the Rhine 
and combining them into one ecclesiastical organization, St. Boniface laid 
the foundations of the later German kingdom, which was formed after 
Charlemagne. Protestant historians, too, call him the "Maker of Ger- 
many." — Special Report : St. Boniface. — T. W. Allies, Monastic Life, 
pp. 294 ff. 



§78] ROME AND THE POPES 79 

far-off Rome to lay the matter before the Holy Father. Pope 
Zachary answered, it was better that he should be king who was 
actually performing the king's duties. Thereupon Pippin the 
Short was unanimously chosen king by the Franks. St. Boni- 
face, by order of the Pope, anointed the first king of the Caro- 
lingian line/ a.d. 752. Childeric, the last Merovingian king, 
ended his days in a monastery. " An important revolution of 
the greatest benefit for Church and State, one of the most 
momentous events in history, was thus brought about without 
the slightest disorder." ^ 

B. Foundation of the Papal States 

78. Rome and the Papes. — Constantine the Great besides 
giving liberty to the Church donated large possessions to the 
Apostolic See and other ecclesiastical institutions. His example 
was followed by others. Eventually the pope became the 
richest landowner in Italy, a fact which enabled him to be, 
during the stormy period of the barbarian invasions, the bene- 
factor of the poor and distressed throughout the whole world. 
Various emperors, moreover, bestowed on the popes regular 
governmental powers, such as the administration of the existing 
poor laws. All this helped to make the pope in the course of 
time the most important personage in Italy, particularly in 
Rome — the more so because, after the foundation of Constan- 
tinople, no emperor ever made the ancient capital his permanent 
residence. '' Old Rome " was despised by the emperors as an 
unimportant provincial town. Their energy was required for 
the defense of the eastern frontier and was often squandered in 
domestic revolutions and religious disputes. It was the popes 

1 This family is named not after its ancestor but after its greatest member, 
Charles the Great or Charlemagne (in Latin Carolus Magnus), who was 
Pippin's son. Sometimes, however, the family is styled "the Pippinides." 

2 Mann, The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. I, Part II, 
p. 273. 



80 ALLIANCE OF THE PAPACY AND FRANKS [§79 

that kept up order in the little district which surrounded it 
(§ 64). They even collected the taxes exacted by the greedy 
ruler on the Bosphorus. 

The Roman as well as the Ravennese territory was suffering 
from the persistent attacks of the Lombards. This Teutonic 
nation, even after its conversion to Catholicity, retained much 
of its primitive ferocity. The conquest of a city spelled certain 
ruin for its inhabitants. The emperor confined himself to 
writing encouraging letters and intrusting the popes with the 
defense of the country by arms, or by diplomatic missions to the 
Lombard court. If the helpless territories had not been swallowed 
up in A.D. 750, it was exclusively due to the popes. 

The more were the people drawn towards the actual ruler of 
their little " state." The district was looked upon as the prop- 
erty of St. Peter and his successors. The pope certainly would 
have violated no right, had he renounced an allegiance which 
had long been forfeited by powerless, careless, or incapable 
emperors. 

79. Foundation of the Papal States. — About a.d. 750 the 
attacks of the Lombards were renewed with increased violence. 
Letter upon letter went to Constantinople, and as usual 
nothing came back but letters or messengers offering words of 
encouragement with neither money nor army. Under these 
circumstances. Pope Stephen III finally resolved to apply for 
aid to the new king of the Franks, Pippin the Short. He himself 
made the journey across the Alps and was received with the 
greatest honor by the nation and their monarch. In a solemn 
assembly king and nobles swore that they would not fight . 
against the Lombards, hitherto their friends, to reconquer 
territory either for themselves or for the emperor whose claims 
had lapsed, but they were ready to vindicate with their swords 
the rights of the Church, St. Peter, and the Holy See. 

The Franks crossed the Alps, and the Lombard king Aistulf 
gave up his conquests. Pippin might have kept these provinces 



§80] IMPORTANCE OF THE PAPAL STATES 81 

for himself. He was able to defend and take care of them. 
But such was not his intention. He " restored them to St. 
Peter and his successors, to be possessed by them forever.*' 
In 756 A.D. the district of Rome together with that of Ravenna 
became the Papal States. Pope Stephen III, now real sovereign, 
gave Pippin the title of Patrician of the Romans, which made him 
the secular protector of the new papal monarchy. 

To the Byzantine ambassadors who urged him to make the con- 
quered provinces over to the empire, Pippin gave the noble answer: 
" It is not to please men that I have so often engaged in battle. It is 
only for the love of Blessed Peter, and to obtain pardon for my sins. 
No amount of treasure can move me to take back what I have once 
offered to Blessed Peter " (Mann, Vol. I, Part II, p. 312). 

80. Importance of the Papal States. — In Rome, as a matter 
of fact, the popes had ever been either persecuted and prisoners 
or the most prominent personages. Though at all times desir- 
able, a full sovereignty was less needed for them as long as 
nearly the whole Church was confined to the Roman Empire. 
It would be different in the times to come. " By a special 
dispensation of Divine Providence," says Pope Pius IX, in 
1871, " the civil sovereignty came to the Roman Pontiff. If 
he were subject to another monarch's rule, he could never, in 
performing the duties of his Apostolic office, keep himself free 
from the influence of his sovereign, who might even fall away 
from the faith or wage war with another power." No nation 
will turn with full confidence to a pope who has to reckon with 
the political and commercial views, plans, and interests of an- 
other nation's head, government, and political parties. 

Had not their little principality made the popes independent of all 
other powers, the popes could never have freely rebuked potentates for 
immorality and oppression or acted as arbiters between warring parties. 
Thej' could never have kept in view and effectively promoted mis- 
sionary work in foreign countries. The Crusades would have been an 
impossibility. General councils, without an independent head, could 



82 ALLIANCE OF THE PAPACY AND FRANKS [§81 

have commanded little respect, neither would their injunctions have 
been carried into execution. Decisions concerning conditions in other 
countries would have been viewed with suspicion, had the pope been the 
subject of a foreign and perhaps hostile power. 

The Papal States are for the Church what the District of Columbia 
is for the United States. They are not the private property of the 
pK)pes any more than the White House is the property of the President 
or the parochial residences the property of our parish priests. 

The territorifiil independence of the papacy is a necessary element in 
the life of the Middle Ages. This evident fact cannot always be referred 
to expressly in this textbook. Let the student himself ask the question, 
whether, on certain occasions, the pope would have acted as he did had 
he been the real subject of, say, France, or Germany, or England. 

81. Meaning of Temporal Sovereignty. Persons not well informed 
sometimes understand by the " temporal sovereignty " of the popes 
the peculiar position which the popes held in the Middle Ages as heads 
of the entire Christian commonwealth, in virtue of which they occa- 
sionally went so far as even to depose emperors or kings. But this was 
no sovereignty at all. By virtue of this position the popes never claimed 
any of the rights of kings or rulers in the realms concerned ; they never, 
for instance, claimed that they could make purely commercial laws 
for the Christian countries, or that they, if the matter was purely tem- 
poral, could accept an appeal from a king's decision. It was simply 
the same power as that which they had over every other individual 
member in the Church, the right to see that the laws of God were 
obeyed, and to inflict suitable punishment in case of flagrant immorality 
and tyranny or other transgressions. Excommunication, for instance, 
was infhcted not only on Philip I of France for adultery, but also by St. 
Paul on a man of Corinth for a similar crime. The power to act thus 
was part of the universal care for the spiritual welfare of all Christians, 
rulers as well as subjects. (The power of the popes to depose unworthy 
rulers was not seriously questioned in the Middle Ages.) But all this 
was no temporal sovereignty. 

Temporal sovereignty is the supreme legislative, judicial, and executive 
power in a state, whether held by a monarch or a republican magistrate ; 
that is to say, the power to make laws which bind all the subjects, to 
decide cases referring to temporal matters without the interference of a 
higher authority, to levy and dispose of revenues for the maintenance 
of public order and the furthering of temporal welfare. This was the 



§81] MEANING OF TEMPORAL SOVEREIGNTY 83 

power the popes held over the territories granted to them by Pippin 
the Short. And they held it not for its own sake but for the addi- 
tional advantage which it confers : political independence. They were 
obhged in turn to give their territory a good administration. Since the 
object of this independence is the exercise of the highest and most 
necessary office in the Church, it is a sacred possession, and its violation 
is sacrilegious.^ 

^FoB Further Reading. — Davis' Readings, Vol. II, No. 144, 145; 
Thos. W. Allies, Peter's Rock in Mohammed's Flood, Ch. viii, pp. 420 ff. 



CHAPTER XI 
CHARLEMAGNE 

A. Charlemagne and His Wars 

82. Charlemagne the Man. — In 768 Pippin, king of the 
Franks, was succeeded by his son Karl. This prince is known in 
history as Charlemagne.^ No doubt he was 
one of the most remarkable men that ever 
lived, and his work has profoundly influ- 
enced all later history. His friend and sec- 
retary Einhard (Eginhard) describes him as 
a full-blooded German, with yellow hair, 
fair skin, and large, keen, blue eyes. He 
was simple in habits, temperate in eating 
and more so in drinking. He usually wore 
the ordinary dress of the Prankish noble, 
with a sword at his side and a blue cloak 
flung over his shoulders. But he was also 
a lover of Roman culture, and spared no 
efforts to preserve and extend it among his 
people. 




Seal of 
Charlemagne 



This is the nearest 
approach to a likeness 
of the greatest of the 
Franks. The inscrip- 
tion, much abbrevi- 
ated, is XPE PROTEGE 
CAROLUM REGE(m) 

FRANCR (fRANCORUm) 

Christ, protect Charles 
the king of the Franks. 
The cross stands for 
an X ; see legend of 
illustration in § 20. 



He handled Latin as readily as his Prankish 
tongue, and understood Greek when it was spoken. 
Later in life he learned to write, but was never 
able to do much more than sign his name. For 



^ See note on § 77. — The French form Charlemagne has won general 
acceptance among English writers. However, the student must not think 
of him as a Frenchman, or even as "king of France." At that time there 
was no France in our sense of the word. The following chapters will make 
this clear. Charlemagne was "King of the Franks." 

84 



§84] CHARACTER OF CHARLEMAGNE'S WARS 85 

the times, however, he was an educated man, and most wilhng to ap- 
preciate the learning of others. At table he liked to have some one read 
to him, and had a predilection for historical subjects. He gathered 
learned men around him from distant lands and delighted in their con- 
versation. After his death, legend magnified and mystified his fame in 
all the countries that had been under his sway. 

83. Character of Charlemagne's Wars. — The Frankish 
state was still in peril, from Mohammedanism on one side, 
and still more from barbarism on the other. His grandfather 
and father had checked the invasion. But under the vigorous 
new prince the Franks took the aggressive and rolled back the 
peril on both sides. His reign of nearly fifty years (768-814) 
was filled with ceaseless warfare, oftentimes two or more great 
campaigns to a season. At first glimpse, therefore, Charle- 
magne stands forth a warlike figure, like Caesar and Alexander. 
Like them he supported by arms the extension of the area of 
civilized life. But very unlike them, he conceived of no civili- 
zation except that imparted by Christianity. In fact, the 
protection and spread of Christianity he considered as his chief 
aim from the beginning of his long reign. He did not war for 
glory or gain as such. The greater part of his time and efforts 
was given to interior organization and government. Charles 
was not so much a fighter as a statesman and ruler. His wars 
had a twofold ,^ poHtical result : (a) the enlargement of the 
Frankish State, (b) the establishment of tributary border states. 

84. The Enlargement of the Realm, Winning of the Saxon 
Lands. — The heathen Saxons still held the wilderness between 
the Rhine and the Elbe, near the North Sea.^ They were con- 
stantly harassing the Frankish dominions by devastating raids. 
Missionaries could never penetrate into the land. For Charles 
the war against them was a necessity. But it proved a desperate 
enterprise. Nine times, after they seemed subdued, the Saxons 
shook off his yoke, massacred the Frankish garrisons, and re- 

* At Dresent the name of Saxony is chiefly applied to other districts. 



86 CHARLEMAGNE [§84 

turned to the abominations of paganism with its human sac- 
rifices. 

Unfortunately Charles' methods were not above reproach. Contrary 
to the spirit of Christianity he forced the Saxons to be baptized. It is 
a blot on his name, too, that he executed after one rising forty-five 
hundred men (a number doubted by good historians). The rebels, 
however, had been condemned by their own chiefs. The genuine con- 
version of the Saxon leader Widukind meant a great step toward final 
submission. 

But these wars were the most fruitful of the whole century. The Saxon 
country came to be covered with churches and monasteries and the 
schools inseparable from them. The Saxons became fervent Christians 
and proved loyal subjects to their stern conqueror. This conversion 
and the establishment of bishoprics in Saxony completed the work of 
St. Boniface for Germany. Christian civilization now extended to the 
Elbe. The country thus gained was destined to play an influential 
part in the formation of medieval Germany. 

In other campaigns Charles thrust back the Saracens in Spain 
as far as the Ebro and established there the Spanish March.^ 
The last Lombard king, Desiderius, quarreled with the pope. 
After fruitless negotiations Charles marched into Italy, con- 
firmed Pippin's grant to the Apostolic See, conquered the king- 
dom of Lombardy, sent Desiderius to a monastery, and with 
the partial consent of the nation proclaimed himself king of the 
Lombards.^ He also reduced Bavaria, which had never been a 
secure possession, deposed its duke and incorporated it into the 
Frankish state. With it went the countries between Bavaria 
and the northern end of the Adriatic Sea. 



1 The defeat of Charlemagne's rear guard, on the return, by the wild 
tribesmen of the Pyrenees, in the pass of Roncesvalles, gave rise to the 
legend of the death of the hero Roland in battle with the Saracens. The 
details are fable, but the Song of Roland was the most famous poem of the 
early Middle Ages. 

2 Note ■ the distinction : Lombardy first remained a separate kingdom 
though under the Frankish king; after an attempt at rebellion Lombardy 
like Bavaria became part of the kingdom of the Franks, with no separate 
government. 



§86] POSSIBILITY OF THE REVIVAL 87 

Thus all the surviving Germanic peoples on the continent of Europe, 
Lombards, Biu^gundians, Bavarians, Alemannians, Saxons, Frisians, 
Franks, and part of the Visigoths were united in one Christian state. 
The population, except in the Northeast, was overwhelmingly Roman, 
notably Celto-Roman, while the rule was in Teutonic hands. This 
xmity seems to have been the aim of Charlemagne. 

It is worthy of notice that the small Teutonic states outside his 
realm, — in Denmark, Scandinavia, and England, — ■ recognized in some 
vague terms an overlordship in .the ruler of the continent. 

85. The Tributary States. — Beyond the German territory 
there stretched away indefinitely the Slavs and Avars, who from 
time to time hurled themselves against the barriers of civilization, 
as in old Roman days. In the closing part of his reign, Charle- 
magne attacked barbarism in its own strongholds. These long 
wars were really defensive in character. Gradually the first 
line of the people beyond the Elbe and Danube (including 
modern Bohemia and Moravia) was reduced to tributary king- 
doms. They were intended to serve as buffers against their un- 
tamed: brethren farther east. 

But the event which more than anything else has given to 
Charlemagne his place in history is the revival of the Roman 
Empire in the West. 

B. The Revival of the Roman Empire in the West 

86. Possibility of the Revival. — In, the West of Europe the 
idea of an emperor was not forgotten (§§ 43, 54, 65). The 
nations, Teutonic as well as Roman, desired to see an emperor 
rise again who would combine imperial power with an imperial 
title, who would, according to the notion cherished since Con- 
stantine, be a defender of the Church, as protector of right and 
justice (§ 40). There was now a ruler who lacked none of all 
the requisites but the title. Some exchange of thought on this 
subject had evidently taken place between the pope and Charle- 
magne, at least in some general way. A renewal of this sacred 



88 CHARLEMAGNE [§87 

dignity was of advantage to both. The magic of the name would 
enormously increase the king's authority over the many national- 
ities of his realm, and the pope would gain a greater claim to the 
active assistance of the Frankish monarch. The only one who, 
according to the spirit of the time, could take the initiative 
and act as the spokesman, of the nations, was the pope. An 
emperor sanctioned and crowned by the Head of all Christen- 
dom would meet with a general and unbounded enthusiasm. 

87. Coronation of Charlemagne. — In a.d. 799 a band of 
Roman nobles, probably relying on the support of a Lombard 
and Byzantine faction in Italy, attacked Pope St. Leo III in a 
procession, and only with great difficulty could he save himself 
by flight. Like Stephen III he went in person across the Alps, 
and obtained from the king the promise of his assistance. The 
following year saw Charlemagne in Rome, where he took 
vigorous measures for the future safety of the Holy Father. 
Then, on Christmas, when Charles was kneeling in St. Peter's 
Church to hear Mass, the pope unexpectedly approached him, 
placed a golden crown upon his head, and greeted him with the 
words, " Long life and victory to Charles, the most pious 
Augustus, crowned of God, the great and peace-giving Emperor 
of the Romans." The cry was repeated in the church and re- 
echoed by the crowds outside. Christmas Day of the year 
800 is one of the most memorable dates in the history of Europe. 
It is the birthday of the Holy Roman Empire. 

88. Relation of the Emperor to the Pope and to Other 
Rulers. — By his elevation the emperor gained neither an}^ new 
territory nor the right of interfering in the interior affairs of 
any other state. Nor did he become the sovereign of the Papal 
States ; on the contrary, it was one of the obligations of his 
office to guarantee these possessions to the incumbent of the 
Holy See. Only when requested by the pope was he allowed 
to exercise jurisdiction within them. Neither did his position 
make him a subject of the pope in temporal matters. But the 



§89] ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 89 

new dignity endowed him with a moral power which no feat of 
arms or successful conquest could have given him. Over other 
Christian princes, should there be any, the emperor would possess 
a primacy of honor, and the right of summoning them to his 
assistance in any enterprise undertaken for the welfare of the 
Church. Papacy and empire were to stand side by side, each 
supreme in its own sphere, the emperor being ever ready to 
support with physical force the spiritual government of the 
pope and to defend all the interests of the Church of God on 
earth. 

The great act of A.D. 800 in St. Peter's Basilica was the beginning of 
that intimate union between Church and State, which in spite of many 
shortcomings must ever be ^ considered as the nearest realization of 
the true ideal relation between the two which the world has ever known. 
The Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire were the two centers around 
which moved events of the greatest importance in European history .^ 

All these attributes of the imperial dignity were rather ac- 
knowledged instinctively by the contemporaries of Charlemagne 
than formally expressed. The very designation of " Holy 
Roman Empire " was coined later. The medieval emperor 
stood essentially higher than any other ruler ; he was endowed 
with a sacred character ; only one prince might rightfully call 
himself emperor, and he only after being crowned by the head 
of the Church in Rome. By his tact Charlemagne soon over- 
came the sensitiveness of the Byzantine emperors, and before 
long was addressed by them as " emperor and king." 

C, Life in Charlemagne's Empire 

89. Economic Conditions. — We must not think that the 
glory and prosperity of the old Empire had been restored with 
its name. To accomplish that was to be the work of centuries 

1 Charlemagne is said to be the first secular ruler who employed the 
Christian Era {Ancient World, § 591, note) when dating documents. 



90 CHARLEMAGNE [§ 90 

more. In 800 the West was ignorant and poor. There was 
barbarism in the most civilized society. Roads had fallen into 
neglect; brigands infested them; and there was little com- 
munication between one district and another. Money was 
little heard of. Trade hardly existed. Almost the only in- 
dustry was agriculture. 

Perhaps we can see this condition best by looking at the 
revenues of Charlemagne himself. Great and powerful as he 
was, he was always pinched for money. There were no taxes, 
as we understand the word, — partly because there was no 
money with which to pay them, and little produce. Payment 
was made hy service in person. The common freemen paid by 
serving in the ranks of the army, the nobles by serving with 
their followers, and also by acting, without salar}^, as officers in 
the government. The treasury received some fines, and it was 
enriched somewhat by the *' gifts " which were expected from the 
wealthy men of the realm ; but its chief support came from the 
produce of the royal farms scattered through the kingdom. 

The king and court constantly traveled from farm to farm to con- 
sume the produce upon the spot. Charlemagne took the most minute 
care that his farms should be well tilled, and that each one should pay 
him every egg and vegetable due. For the management of his estates 
he drew up regulations, from which we learn much about the con- 
ditions of the times. (Davis' Readings, II, No. 149 ; or Ogg's Source 
Book, No. 18.) 

90. The Government. — The complex and efficient system of 
government of the old Roman Empire had vanished even more 
completely than the old roads and commerce and taxing system. 
The new government of Charlemagne's Empire was rude and 
simple, but suited to the conditions of the age. 

Five features deserve attention, — the counts; the watching 
of the counts by the missi dominici; the king's oion marvelous 
activity; the capitularies; and May fields. 

Under the Merovingians, large fragments of the kingdom had 



§90] THE GOVERNMENT 91 

fallen under the rule of dukes, who became almost independent 
sovereigns and who usually passed on their authority to their 
sons. Pippin began to replace these hereditary dukes with 
appointed counts, more closely dependent upon the royal will. 
This practice was extended by Charlemagne. 

Except on the frontier, no one count was given a large dis- 
trict; so these officers were numerous. On the frontiers, to 
watch the outside barbarians, the imperial officers were given 
large territories (" marks ")j and were csXXed margraves} To 
counts and margraves the king intrusted all ordinary business 
of government for their districts. They maintained order, 
administered justice, levied troops, and in all ways represented 
the king to the people. 

To keep the counts in order, Charlemagne introduced a new 
set of officers known as missi dominici (''king's messengers "). 
The empire was divided into districts, each containing the 
governments of several counts, and to each such district each 
year there was sent a pair of these commissioners, to examine 
the administration and to act, for the year, as the king's self, 
— overseeing the work of local counts, correcting injustice, 
holding popular assemblies, and reporting all to the king.^ 

This simple system worked wonderfully well in Charlemagne's 
lifetime, largely because of his own marvelous activity. Despite 
the terrible conditions of the roads, and the other hardships of 
travel in those times, the king was constantly on the move, 
journeying from end to end of his vast dominions and attending 
unweariedly to its wants. No commercial traveler of to-day 
travels more faithfully, and none dreams of meeting such hard- 
ships. 

With the help of his advisers, the king drew up collections 

^ The title of count has nothing to do with counting. It is derived from a 
Latin word which means companion. This was the appellation of certain 
officials in the later Roman Empire. The German word for it is Graf, the 
ancient form of which appears in margrave (Markgraf). 

2 See instructions to the missi, in Robinson's Readings, I, 139-143. 



92 CHARLEMAGNE [§ 91 

of laws to suit the needs of his people. These collections are 
known as capitularies. (Davis' Readings, II, pp. 377 ff., gives 
extracts.) 

To keep in closer touch with popular feeling in all parts of the 
kingdom, Charlemagne made use of the old Teutonic assemblies 
in fall and spring. All freemen could attend. Sometimes, 
especially when war was to be decided upon, this '' May field " 
gathering comprised the bulk of the men of the Frankish nation. 
At other times it was made up only of the great nobles and 
churchmen. (Cf. § 48.) 

To these assemblies the capitularies were read; but the 
assembly was not itself a legislature. Lawmaking was in the 
hands of the king. At the most, the assemblies could only bring 
to bear upon him mildly the force of public opinion. 

A modern French historian (Coulanges) pictures a Mayfield thus : 
*' An immense multitude is gathered in a plain, under tents. It is 
divided into separate groups. The chiefs of these groups assemble 
about the king, to deliberate with him. Then each of them tells his 
own group what has been decided, perhaps consults them, but at any 
rate obtains their consent as easily as the king had obtained his ; for 
these men are dependent upon him, just as he is on the king. . . . The 
king's will decided everything; the nobles only advised." 

91. Education. — Attention has been called (§ 82) to Charle- 
magne's interest in learning. The difficulties in building up a 
system of education were almost beyond our comprehension. 
There seemed no place to begin. Not only the nobles, but even 
many of the better clergy were densely ignorant. The only tools 
to work with were poor. 

Charlemagne did much. He secured more learned men, 
domestic and foreign. Anglo-Saxon, Irish, and Italian scholars 
received every kind of encouragement. In those days scholar- 
ship was almost exclusively represented by the clergy. Charles 
brought about the opening of schools in monasteries and at the 
seats of bishops ; and he urged that these schools should not 



§92] THE PLACE OF CHARLEMAGNE IN HISTORY 93 

only train the clergy, but that they should teach all children 
to read, even those of serfs. Some of the schools established 
or revived at this time, as at Tours and Orleans, acquired 
much fame. Charlemagne also established a famous ''School 
of the Palace " for the young nobles of the court at Aachen ; 
and the scholar Alcuin was induced to come from England to 
direct it. The emperor himself, when time permitted, studied 
at the tasks of the boys. 

92. The Place of Charlemagne in History. — Charlemagne 
restored order to Europe, at least for his lifetime. It is true 
he was ahead of his age ; and, after his death, his great design 
in many respects broke to pieces. But the imperial idea to 
which he had given new life and new meaning was to be for ages 
the inspiration of the best minds as they strove against the 
forces of anarchy in behalf of order, peace, and progress. It is 
true, too, that he built upon the work of his father and grand- 
father. But he towers above them, and above all other men for 
centuries, easily the greatest figure of a thousand years. 

He stands for five great movements. He expanded the area 
of Christianity and of civilization, created one great Romano- 
Teutonic state, revived as the outward form of this state the 
Roman Empire in the West, reorganized civil society, brought 
about a revival of learning, and in various ways assisted in 
securing for the papacy the independent position which it needs 
to develop its divine resources. Looking at this work as a whole, 
we may say he wrought wisely to combine the best elements into 
a new Christian civilization. 

In his Empire the various streams of influence that we have traced in 
Ancient History were at last fused in one great current. ^ 



Exercises on this Summary of Ancient Times are not given, because 
this part of the book is often covered by classes in Ancient history, and 
teachers may wish to pass over it rapidly. 



^ See Ancient History, § 4. 



THE MODERN WORLD 
BOOK I 

THE ERA OF RELIGIOUS UNITY 

(Early Modern History) 



PART I. FROM CHARLEMAGNE TO THE 
END OF THE CRUSADES 

SECTION L ORIGIN OF THE EUROPEAN STATES 

CHAPTER I 

THE WORLD ABOUT AD. 800 

93. The Great Powers of the Time. — The world was divided 
chiefly among four great powers, two Christian empires and 
two Mohammedan caliphates. (See map of "Great Powers.") 
The old historical countries of Western x\sia, that is, the lands on 
the Euphrates and Tigris, Syria and Egypt, were now in the 
hands of the Mohammedan rulers, who extended their sway 
over the whole Northern coast of Africa. These vast prov- 
inces formed the Caliphate of Bagdad. The Caliphate of Cor- 
dova embraced the Spanish peninsula with the exception 
of the northern mountains and the Prankish county between 
the Ebro and the Pyrenees. The two great Christian states were 
the Eastern Empire and the Empire of Charlemagne. 

The Civilization of the Mohammedan world has been referred 
to already (§ 74). In many of their countries the religious 
and literary life of the subjected Christians, though much dis- 
turbed, still went on for some centuries more. 

94. The most civilized part of the world, both materially and 
intellectually, was the Eastern Empire. Here, in the cities around 
the Aegean Sea, there remained, practically untouched by the 
effects of the Migration of Nations, the old culture, the inherit- 
ance of centuries of refinement, elevated by the influence of 

97 



98 THE WORLD ABOUT A.D. 800 [§94 

Christianity. Constantinople above all was the home of 
civilization. It was the most splendid city in the world. It 
possessed beautiful parks, and its well-paved streets were lighted 
by night. Its brilliant churches and imperial palaces were the 
marvel of the universe. Hospitals and orphan asylums took 
care of the poor. It was also the center of trade and manu- 
facture. Its silks, jewelry, glazed pottery, weapons, and 




Walls of Constantinople to-day. — From a photograph. 

mosaics found their way into foreign lands, including the semi- 
cultured West. The population numbered about a million. 
Unfortunately the despotism of its rulers left little to the 
initiative of the citizens. It thus gradually lessened the interest 
which private citizens should take in the general welfare of the 
state, and diminished their ability to realize and meet common 
dangers. Worse than this, the constant interference of the 
emperors in Church affairs, even in matters of doctrine, and 
the fact that the appointment of all the bishops had been usurped 
by the secular authority which was often prompted by merely 



55 



50 



i5 



iO 



35 



30 




/.x:^^ 



25 



For several centuries before A.D. 800 
Ireland was called Scotia 

SCALE OF MILES 



100 50 ,0 100 200 300 100 500 



10 







10 Longitude 15 East 



25 30 




from 25 Greenwich 30 



§95] THE WORLD ABOUT A.D. 800 99 

political reasons tended to reduce the Church, the mightiest 
factor in civilization, into slavish subjection and unproductive 
stagnancy. 

95. Xhe West. — We have, however, chiefly to deal with the 
Christian West, now almost entirely united in the Empire of 
Charlemagne. The West harbored the promise of the future 
of Europe. Three forces had contributed towards shaping it for 
its great mission: Christianity, the ancient Roman Empire, the 
Teutonic invaders. These forces had also affected the Eastern 
Empire, but not all in the same degree and fashion . The stu- 
dent will be able, now or in the course of the next several chap- 
ters, to point out the differences. 

Christianity (1) restored the worship of the One True God 
" Who made heaven and earth " and with it gave back to 
mankind the greatest guarantee of true welfare, civilization 
included. 

(2) It consequently inculcated the true notion of human life 
and liberty, thus rescuing the rights of slaves and children and 
women. 

(3) It secured the future of the human race by reinstating and 
elevating matrimony. 

(4) It furnished the correct notion of the dignity of the lowly 
and their occupations. 

(5) It placed before the eyes of the world a spotless ideal of 
Virtue, the God-Man Jesus Christ and his immaculate mother 
Mary. 

(6) It established a religion which satisfies the human 
intellect as well as the human heart and will. 

(7) It was itself a world-wide organization, strong enough to 
foster in its bosom all the rising institutions. 

The Roman Empire : — 

(1) The Population. The bulk of the population during and 
after the Teutonic invasions remained ethnically much the 
same as before. In the West, which concerns us much more 



100 THE WOiRLD ABOUT A.D. 800 [| 95 

than the East, it was chiefly the Romanized Celts of Gaul and 
northern Italy, that come into consideration. 
This population contributed : — 

a. The intellectual and material civilization of . ancient 

Greece, together with the Oriental inheritance, but all 
this modified by the Roman genius. 

b. A universal language with its literary treasures, which 

even after losing its hold on the common people was 
to remain the vehicle of educated thought for the next 
thousand years. 
(2) The Political Organization contributed : — 

a. The idea and machinery of centralized government. 

b. Municipal institutions. 

c. Roman law. 

d. The idea of a one lasting secular authority as the secular 

center and head of the civilized world. 
The Teutons contributed : — 

a. Themselves. 

b. A new sense of the value of the individual as opposed 

to that of the state. This idea was extended, rectified, 
and hallowed by Christianity. 

c. Loyalty to a lord, as contrasted with loyalty to the state. 

d. A new chance for democracy (§ 67). 

e. A new impetus to the development of law. Teutonic law 

was crude and adapted to simple conditions. Yet it 
exercised a wholesome influence on the later codification 
of the Roman law which formed the basis of legislation 
in after centuries. 

This mingling of forces has been felt ever since in European 
history. Oriental civilization quickly became uniform ; society crystal- 
lized; development ceased (§§ 12, 13). European civilization began 
with diversity and freedom. But after some centuries, the Roman Em- 
pire had begun to take an Oriental uniformity (§ 32) ; society there, 
too, had crystallized (§§ 34-36), and progress apparently had ceased. 



§96] THE WORLD ABOUT A.D. 800 101 

The mingling of the new elements contributed by the Teutons with the 
older elements, and both controlled by Christianity, has prevented 
later European society from becoming stagnant. 

It was in consequence of this manifold inheritance, which 
fell to it in greater richness, that the West, though saving less 
of the actual civilization of former times, contained more possi- 
bility for growth than the East. Personal liberty and local 
enterprise were never stifled. Conditions developed which were 
to safeguard the Church against becoming the slave of the 
secular power. The fact that the greatest of religious forces, 
the papacy, had its seat in the West, no doubt was also of 
immense moment. 

96, The Christian West Outside of Charlemagne's Empire. — 
The brightest spot in the northwest was Ireland. She continued 
in her flourishing state, producing saintly and learned men and 
women, and sending monks and missionaries to foreign lands. 
The Slavs, east and north of the civilized and Christian terri- 
tory, had not as yet risen much above a primitive state of civ- 
ilization. They were still in a period of political formation, 
constantly changing their abodes as well as their relation to the 
Eastern and Western empires. More backward, perhaps, were 
the Teutonic inhabitants of Scandinama, who in later years 
were to exert a powerful influence upon nearly all the countries 
of Europe (§ 101 ff.). 



CHAPTER II 
DISRUPTION OF CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE 

97. Louis the Pious (814-840). — The great emperor died 
A.D. 814 and was succeeded by his son Louis. Louis had shown 
himself on many occasions an able general and administrator, 
so that Charles closed his eyes full of hope for the future of 
his vast empire. For years everything went on much the same 
way as under Charles, though the time of great conquests was 
past. Louis was a conscientious and pious man, kind, — too 
kind, — and too easily swayed by others. He soon divided his 
realm among his sons, trying no less than seven schemes, each 
followed by greater dissatisfaction. It came to wars between 
the sons and the father and between the sons themselves. 
The emperor was the victim of their jealousy. Once they forced 
him to abdicate and remain for some time in a monastery. He 
was allowed to resume his dignity, but death alone preserved 
him from a new humiliation. 

His good will to act as protector of the Church nobody ques- 
tioned. But he lacked the energy of his father. The empire 
suffered greatly from the domestic wars as well as from the 
inroads of the Northmen (§ 101 ff.) which did not meet with 
vigorous resistance and which increased in number and violence 
under the following reigns. 

98. The Later Carolingians. — After Louis the Pious' death, 
his sons concluded the Treaty of Verdun, A.D. 84-3, which may 
be said to have begun the map of modern Europe. Lothair, the 
eldest, held the title of Emperor and was given Northern Italy 
with a strip of land from Italy to the North vSea. His two 
brothers received the parts east and west of Lothair's realm. 

102 



§98] 



THE LATER CAROLINGIANS 



103 



The eastern kingdom, purely German, developed later into 
Germany. In the western kingdom the sparse Teutonic elements 
were being absorbed rapidly into the old Gallic (Celtic) popu- 




Cathedral of Aachen. 

The Octagon in the center is the original Carolingian " Chapel." The other 
parts are of later date. (Compare picture in Ancient World, p. 648.) 



lation, and its territory corresponded fairly well to the extent 
of the new French language then rising into use.^ How this 
part came to be called France will be seen later (§ 188). 

^ A year before the Treaty of Verdun the two younger brothers were 
allied against Lothair. They mutually took the famous "Oath of Strass- 



104 DISRUPTION OF CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE [§98 

Lothair's unwieldy middle Jcingdom naturally proved the 
weakest of the three states. It lacked unity, racial as well as 
geographical. Lothair himself divided it among his three sons. 
Louis II followed him as emperor and ruler of (Northern) Italy ; 
Burgundy became another kingdom ; and the rest, north of 
Burgundy, went to Lothair 11. This latter part retained 
Lothair's name, being called " Lotharingia " or Lorraine. It 
then embraced, as the map shows, much of the eastern part of 
present France, nearly all Belgium, all Holland, and much 
German territory west and northeast of the Rhine. This 
Lorraine soon became the bone of contention between its two 
neighbors, neither of whom had any more claim to it than the 
other. But by 925 it appears incorporated into the eastern 
kingdom. 

The imperial dignity did not always pass from father to son. 
In some cases an emperor " crowned " his successor. But in the 
eyes of Christianity the solemn coronation by the pope was the 
true bestowal of the dignity. The later emperors were only too 
often lacking in real political and military power to achieve 

burg." This was worded in two languages : German for the people of the 
East ; and "Roman, " that is, the kind of Latin which was now becoming the 
language of the West. The "Roman" oath is the oldest written example 
of the French language. Charles, the king of the West Franks, swore in the 
language of his brother's German army, and Lewis, king of the East Franks 
swore in the West Franks' tongue, so that each army might know what was 
promised by the other party. The double oath begins : — 

''Pro Deo amur et pro christian pohlo et nostro commun salva- 

''In Godes minna ind in thes christianes folches ind unser bedhero gehalt- 
(In God's love and for this Christian people and our common salva- 

ment dist di in avant in quant Deus savir," etc. 
nissi fon thesemo dage frammordes so fram so mir God gewizci," etc. 
tion, from this day forward, so far as God gives me knowledge) 

This is the earhest record in the French tongue. The French is half way 
between Latin(Roman) and modern French. This shows why the name 
Romance Languages is given to modern French, — and also to Spanish and 
Italian, which grew up in a similar way. (See § 55.) (The oldest records 
of the German language go farther back.) 



§99] THE TREATY OF VERDUN 105 

much for the protection of the Church. The last CaroHngian 
who wore the Roman crown, Berengar, King of (Northern) 
Italy, died in 924. After him the dignity remained in abeyance 
until 962. 

While thus the actual influence of the official protector of the 
Church relaxed and ceased, political factions raised their heads 
in Rome. By conspiring with dissatisfied elements in the 
peninsula, they several times intruded unfit persons into the 
papal chair (§ 201). The Papal States came to be ruled more 
or less according to the methods of Feudalism, that is, the popes 
gave parts of them to vassals. The cities generally, like those 
in the rest of Italy, had preserved a good deal of home rule from 
the Roman times. Both vassals aiid cities were eager to acquire, 
and even to arrogate, greater rights, and often acted with utter 
disregard of their sovereign. Some of the later emperors — 
not the Carolingians — exercised unlawful jurisdiction within 
the papal domains and highhandedly granted its provinces to 
their own Italian or foreign retainers. Hence it is that occa- 
sionally the popes lost control of their states in part or, in a few 
cases, almost entirely, and that strong popes made successful 
efforts to recover, even reconquer, their territory.^ 

99. During the sixty years after the Treaty of Verdun the 
lands of Charlemagne's Empire saw a large number of scandalous 
family wars. Brothers and cousins fought against one another. 
The ferocious Northmen (§ 101 ff.) devastated not only the 
coasts but even the cities far inland, and this sometimes with 
the connivance of the rulers. Once more all the dominions of 
the great emperor were united under Charles the Fat. After 

1 In some historical atlases the Papal States are not marked off for the 
time of the Carolingians and several hundred years after them. This is in- 
correct. Never were the Papal States an imperial district like Bavaria or 
Aquitaine (§ 88). Nor did the Roman Pontiffs ever allow their claims 
to lapse, even when large sections refused to acknowledge their sovereignty. 
And in some way or other, these provinces or cities always returned to their 
allegiance. 



106 DISRUPTION OF CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE [§ 100 

three years, in 887, they fell apart again never to be reunited. 
In Germany Charlemagne's line died out with Louis the Child, 
911, in France with Louis the Sluggard, 987. 

But bright spots are not completely absent in this somber picture. 
Louis III of the western kingdom won the enthusiasm of his people by 
warding off attacks of the Northmen. Arnulph, called the Carinthian, 
restored and kept up order in Germany. Near Louvain he inflicted 
(891) a lasting defeat upon the Northmen. He was crowned emperor 
by the pope, though he did not fully succeed in suppressing the tumul- 
tuous Roman factions. 

100. The weakness of the crown during these troublous 
times had two results which proved disastrous for the future 
kingdoms : 

(1) In nearly all the provinces of the empire there again rose 
families, sometimes related to the Carolingians, which arrogated 
to themselves the power of dukes, a power which Charlemagne 
had taken so much pains to abolish. (§ 90.) This power even 
passed from father to son in the same family. 

(2) The royal dignity again became elective, and of course, the 
dukes had a decisive influence in the election of the king. 

It was principally the bishops that kept each kingdom together and 
prevented the rise of as many independent states as there were dukes. 
They did this partly by example, partly by efficient administration of 
the regions intrusted to them as feudal lords, and partly by vigorous 
support of the king. Under Louis the Child, Archbishop Hatto of 
Mayence as administrator of the whole East-Frankish realm kept down 
lawlessness to a great extent and was heartily hated by the evildoers. 

Exercise. — Draw the Division of Verdun, preferably upon " out- 
line maps," as in the map near § 98. 



CHAPTER III 

THE NATIONS OF THE NORTH AND THE EAST 

"We must now devote some attention to other nations which were 
destined to influence the futiu-e of Europe and themselves to come 
under the beneficial sway of Christian civilization. They rise into 
prominence in the times of Charlemagne's successors. 

A. The Northmen 

101. Character, Home, First Expeditions. — The Northmen 
or Norse were another branch of the Teutons and lived in what 
is now Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The people of the Brit- 
ish Isles called all of 
them Danes. So far 
they had taken no 
part in the Teutonic 
invasions. Their man- 
ners more or less re- 
sembled those of the 
other Germanic tribes 
before these tribes 
had settled on Roman 
ground. But they pos- 
sessed less political 
unity. They were a 
ferocious and hardy race. One Northman would consider it 
disgraceful to run from three foemen. They clung tenaciously 
to the old Germanic gpds (§ 47).^ 

Toward the close of the eighth century they took to the sea — 




Remains of a Viking Ship. 

Found buried in sand at Gokstad, Norway. 
It is of oak, unpainted ; length over all, 79 feet 
4 inches, from stem to stern. 



1 See Guggenberger, Vol. I, §§ 261-272. 
107 



108 NATIONS OF THE NORTH AND THE EAST [§101 

" set out upon the pathway of the swans " — and started a 
dreadful career of piracy and depredation. For more than a 
hundred years they ravaged every shore of Europe including 
Italy. The fleets of these Vikings (creekmen, sons of the 




Norse Settlements. 

fjords) sometimes counted hundreds of boats, sometimes only 
two or three. 

The Norse ships were long, open boats, seventy-five feet by twelve 
or fifteen, carrying a single square sail, but driven for the most part 
by thirty or forty long oars. A boat bore perhaps eighty warriors ; 
and each man was perfectly clad in ring mail and steel helmet, and 
armed with lance, knife, bow, and the terrible Danish ax. Daring, 
indeed, were the long voyages of the Northmen in these frail craft. 
They laughed at the fierce storms of the northern seas. " The blast," 



§ 102] NORSE SETTLEMENTS 109 

they sang, "aids our oars ; the hurricane is our servant and drives us 
whither we wish to go." 

Charlemagne maintained fleets to prevent pirate attacks ; but in the 
quarrels of his weak successors the Norsemen found their opportunity. 
They drove their light vessels far up a river, into the heart of the land, 
and then, seizing horses, harried at will. They not only plundered 
the open country, but they sacked cities like Hamburg, Rouen, Paris, 
Nantes, Bordeaux, Tours, Cologne. Within one period of a few years, 
they ravaged every town in old Austrasia, and finally stabled their horses 
in the cathedral of Aachen, about the tomb of Charlemagne. 

Ireland was invaded for the first time, in 795. For some decades the 
raids were confined to the small islands, many of which were inhabited 
by colonies of monks. But the " Danes " soon found their way inland. 
A defeat at Killarney merely deterred them for some years. As on 
the continent it was political disunion of the inhabitants that made 
these frightful devastations possible. The invasion of Britain will 
be treated at length in the next chapter. 

Everywhere the chief object of their attacks was the churches 
and monasteries. There they found the most desirable booty — 
richly woven and splendidly decorated cloth, vessels of gold and 
silver, and sometimes treasures deposited for safe keeping. But 
these scornful worshipers of Thor and Wotan were also 
prompted by a blind hatred against " the white Christ." Priests 
and monks and nuns suffered the most cruel persecution. The 
marauders seen;i to have been instigated by the thousands of 
heathen Saxons who had sought refuge in the North from the 
sword of Charlemagne (§ 84). 

102. Norse Settlements. — (1) So far the Northmen had 
been mere plunderers. But things changed in their Scandi- 
navian homes. Three prominent chieftains consolidated the 
countless petty dominions into the kingdoms of Denmark, 
Sweden, and Norway. Discontented spirits now began to leave 
in search of permanent abodes, although. marauding expeditions 
still continued. 

Christianization of Scandinavia had been begun by St. 
Ansgar, Bishop of Hamburg, with the support of the Emperor 



110 NATIONS OF THE NORTH AND THE EAST [§ 102 

Louis the Pious, but the national conversion belongs to a 
later date. The Northmen who settled in other lands, too, 
were converted, so that by a.d. 1000 this whole race had entered 
the family of Christian nations and was participating in the 
blessings of genuine civilization. 

(2) The Norse established themselves on the Orkney, Shet- 
land, and Faroe Islands. On Iceland they founded a republic 
and, under the leadership of the Church, maintained a 
vigorous religious and literary life until the time of the Ref- 
ormation. Another " Danish " republic arose on the western 
shore of Greenland. Thence the Norse seem to have made 
regular trips to the coast of America. In Ireland, too, they now 
meant to stay. Dublin became their principal seat. The 
opposition of the valiant but disunited Irish chiefs was unable to 
check them. It was only in 1014 that the Irish, now fairly 
well united under the brave Brian Boru, defeated them com- 
pletely in the battle of Clontarf. The inroads stopped. The 
numerous '' Danes " who remained in the island lived on peace- 
fully among the natives. But the famous Irish schools (§ 62) 
never recovered their ancient renown. 

The Northmen of Sweden had always turned toward the other shores 
of the Baltic, where they harassed the Slavic tribes. Called in by the 
latter, a powerful chieftain, Ruric, founded a principality at Novgorod, 
which was afterwards transferred to Kiew and thence to Moscow. 
Ruric's descendants ruled over the Slav population until 1598, when 
they were succeeded by the house of Romanow. This state came to be 
known as Russia, a name which is said to have been originally applied 
to the Scandinavians by the Turanian Finns. Rulers and people 
accepted Christianity from Constantinople and later on were drawn 
into the Greek Schism. (§§ 214, 235.) 

There was besides, during the tenth and eleventh centuries, a con- 
stant stream of Swedish Northmen, called the Varangians, to Con- 
stantinople, where they formed a redoubtable unit in the imperial 
army, the famous Varangian Guards. 

(3) But their most important settlement was Normandy. In 
911 Charles the Simple, king of West-Frankland, stopped the 



§103] HOMES AND CHARACTER OF THE SLAVS HI 

Norse raids in his country by planting some of the invaders on 
the northern coast to defend it, under their leader Rolf the 
Dane. Rolf was known also as the Walker, because, it was said, 
he was too gigantic for any horse to bear. He and his followers 
accepted Christianity and agreed to acknowledge Charles as 
overlord for their district, which henceforward was known under 
the title of Dukedom of Normandy. 

A century later the descendants of these fierce warriors had 
become the foremost champions of Western civilization. With 
peculiar adaptability the " Normans," as they were now called, 
took on French customs and the French language. A long 
line of able dukes sternly maintained order ; and this security 
quickly drew immigrants from the neighboring provinces. The 
mixture of Norse blood gave to the population a robust vigor 
which was noticeable for centuries. The rulers were patrons of 
learning and architecture. They favored a zealous and well- 
educated clergy and supported all efforts of ecclesiastical re- 
form, notably the movement proceeding from the Abbey of 
Cluny (§ 150). The little territory was destined to have an 
influence upon the history of Europe quite out of proportion 
to its size. 

Exercise. — Mark on an outline map of Europe the several places 
where the Northmen established permanent settlements. 

B. The Slavs 

103. Homes and Character of the Slavs. — By this time the 
Slavs had occupied the countries evacuated by the Teutons 
in the Migration of Nations. They were the eastern neigh- 
bors of the Frankish kingdom. After the breaking up of 
the latter it was the German kingdom which had to deal with 
them. But a wedge of Germans and Avars — the latter after- 
wards being replaced by the Hungarians — divided the Slavs 
into a northern and a southern branch. The Northern Slavs 
were bv far the most numerous. 



112 NATIONS OF THE NORTH AND THE EAST [§104 

The Southern Slavs were Christianized early, partly from the 
West, partly from Constantinople. But at the time of Charle- 
magne the northern branch was still given to the old national 
paganism. They adored a god of thunder, Perun (Peruna) ; 
a god of hospitality and war, Radegast ; and on an island in the 
Baltic there stood a four-headed statue of the god Swantewit. 
Human sacrifices were an ordinary occurrence. But there was 
no strict religious unity among the many tribes. The priests 
ruled over the people with almost absolute authority and always 
acted as judges. Slavic poetry shows a propensity to the 
melancholic. But the people were brave, and proud of their 
national liberty. Those living farther in the East received 
Christianity from Constantinople (§ 102, 2). Along the eastern 
boundary of the Prankish realm there were, next to the Danube, 
the Moravians, northwest of them the Bohemians, and farther 
north a number of various tribes reaching as far as the Baltic. 
Moravians and Bohemians are comprised under the name 
Czechs. The tribes east of these three sections were spoken 
of as the Poles and their country as Poland. 

104. (1) The Moravians. — By his expedition against the 
Avars (§ 85) Charlemagne had secured the existence of Moravia. 
In 830 A.D. the first Moravians were baptized at the court of 
Louis the Pious, and soon Christianity was legally established. 
But the work of the German and Italian missionaries was not 
very fruitful, because they did not master the language suffi- 
ciently. Moravia's greatest ruler was Swatopluk (870-894), 
who made even Bohemia a part of his realm. At first in alliance 
with King Arnulph (§ 99), then in opposition to him, he was 
prompted both by religious and political motives to ask the 
emperor of Constantinople for missionaries who would know 
the Slavic tongue. Sts. Cyrillus and Methodius were sent, — 
two highly educated brothers, who had already learned the 
language before they knew of this mission. These Saints are 
considered the Apostles of the Slavs. Though they never went 



§ 105] THE BOHEMIANS 113 

to Bohemia or Poland, their influence greatly aided in the con- 
version of these two countries. They translated the Bible into 
Slavic. After St. Cyrillus is named the Slavic alphabet, which 
is still in use in Russia. With the permission of the pope they 
even said Mass in Slavic, following, however, the Roman usages 
and ceremonies. (In 1893 Pope Leo XIII again sanctioned this 
privilege for a number of Slavic dioceses.) 

The political friction between Swatopluk and Arnulph was 
unfortunate for both Moravia and Germany. Arnulph invited 
the heathen Magyars (Hungarians) to an attack on Moravia. 
The destruction of Swatopluk's empire left Germany open to the 
frightful inroads of the Magyars, who harassed Germany until 
955 A.D. Later on Moravia always appears as a dependency 
of the kingdom of Bohemia. 

105. (2) The Bohemians. — In 845 King Louis the German 
persuaded fourteen Bohemian chieftains who visited him to 
receive baptism. Later, owing to the influence of St. Methodius, 
the Duke of Bohemia himself became a Christian. His wife, 
Ludmilla, was the soul of the movement in favor of the new 
religion. But the complete victory was not so easily won. 
Ludmilla's grandson, St. Wenceslaus, was murdered by his 
brother. He is one of the principal patrons of Bohemia. A 
fierce persecution followed his death. The arms of Emperor 
Otto the Great, however, secured the final and permanent 
ascendency of the true religion. Politically the country became, 
together with Moravia, a vassal state of Germany, but always 
held a highly privileged position. Its ruler was given the title 
of King, and in later times he was one of the seven " Electors " 
who had the right and duty of choosing the King of Germany. 
German immigration was eagerly invited in the first cen- 
turies, because it brought a higher civilization and served to 
people deserted districts, notably along the boundaries. Of 
all the rich Slav countries Bohemia is the richest in natural 
treasures. 



114 NATIONS OF THE NORTH AND THE EAST [§106 

106. (3) The Northwestern Slavs, i.e. those living east of the 
Elbe between Bohemia and the Baltic, were the most restless 
neighbors of the Franks. As soon as Saxony was made part of 
the empire, war against these tribes became a necessity. Vic- 
tories over them were always followed by attempts at conversion. 
At one time the whole country seemed to be Christian, only to 
relapse again, for a long period, into paganism, German settle- 
ments were the only effective means to secure safety from these 
inveterate foes. Hence, when the lands were really Christian, 
they had become practically German. The old inhabitants 
disappeared among the new. (More about this in §§ 150, 200.) 
Cistercian and Premonstratensian monasteries were the chief 
Christianizing and civilizing factor in these countries. 

107. (4) Poland. — Missionaries from Moravia, sent by 
St. Methodius, penetrated into the land and brought about a 
number of conversions. But there was no national Chris tian- 
ization before Duke Miescislaw. This prince, in 965, married 
the Bohemian princess Dombrowka, who made it a condition 
of her consent that the duke and his people adopt her own 
religion. The duke became sincerely Christian and soon forbade 
the practice of paganism. But the real founder and organizer 
of Poland as a Christian state was Boleslaus I Chrobry (the 
Glorious). During a reign of more than thirty years (992-1025) 
he strictly enforced Christian laws. In union with Emperor 
Otto III he effected the establishment of seven bishoprics. 
The foundation of monasteries helped to secure the peaceful con- 
quest. Politically, too, his reign was a great success, though 
not without some reverses. He annexed several neighboring 
countries to Poland and was the first to assume the title of king. 
Since 962 Poland owed allegiance to Germany. Emperor St. 
Henry II (§ 206) now forced Boleslaus to give up Bohemia, 
which was restored to its hereditary duke, and to acknowledge 
himself in some vague terms the vassal of Germany. This 
dependence, more nominal than real, disappeared in the course 



§108] THE MAGYARS AND THEIR CONVERSION 115 

of the next century. Not all of Boleslaus' successors inherited 
his ability and firmness. There came a time when Poland broke 
up into a number of independent dukedoms, until other strong 
hands succeeded in uniting them again. 

C. The Hungarians 

108. The Magyars and Their Conversion. — The terrible 
defeat inflicted by Charlemagne upon the Avars left the country 
on both sides of the middle Danube practically without in- 
habitants. The Magyars or Hungarians, who had so far been 
roaming north of the Black Sea and whom King Arnulph had 
called to his assistance against Swatopluk (§ 104), now occu- 
pied the depopulated districts. From here they carried on, for 
sixty years, their devastating raids into western Europe. Con- 
temporary chroniclers compare them with the Huns. They 
were small, active nomads, moving swiftly on scraggy ponies. 
The chief sufferer was Germany. They extended their raids 
as far as the Rhine, repeatedly entered Italy, and advancing 
through both Italy and Germany even harassed France. The 
German kings Henry I and Otto the Great dealt them terrific 
blows (933 and 955) which definitely put a stop to their devas- 
tating excursions. Soon their Chris tianization began. Duke 
Geysa was married to Sarolta, the daughter of a chieftain who 
had become Christian in Constantinople. Geysa now, ex- 
teriorly at least, accepted Christianity and promoted its preach- 
ing among his people. His son, St. Stephen, who married the 
sister of Emperor Henry II. the Saint, was for the Hungarians 
what Boleslaus Chrobry had been for Poland. Under him the 
domestic strifes of the numerous chieftains came to an end. 
The pope gave him the title of " Apostolic King," which the 
kings of Hungary have borne until our own days. Bishoprics 
and monasteries were established. A later reaction of the 
strong pagan party, frightful though it was, proved a failurCo 



116 NATIONS OF THE NORTH AND THE EAST [§108 

Hungary, too, was at first a vassal state of Germany. But the 
pope's influence effectively assisted the endeavors of the Magyar 
kings for complete independence. 

Exercise. — On each or several of §§ 104-108 may be written a Series 
of Events, as suggested in Questions to Ancient World under Marius 
and Sulla. 



CHAPTER IV 
BRITAIN BECOMES ENGLAND 

A. Britain and Its First Invaders 

109. Roman Britain. — The whole island of Great Britain, that is, 
England and Scotland, was inhabited by Celts. In the North, there 
were the Picts ; in the South, the Britons, after whom the Romans named 
the island. The southern part became a Roman province (§ 22), but 
the Picts in the North, though often conquered, were never subdued.^ 
The province of Britain was probably not so thoroughly Romanized as 
were the continental provinces, Gaul, for instance. Yet it had its 
network of Roman roads, the most famous of which is Watling Street 
(see map, § 115). Roman villas rose in the open country, Roman 
palaces, amphitheaters, and temples in the cities. We have no certain 
information as to when Christianity was first introduced among the 
Romanized Britons. It is sure, however, that many died for their 
faith in the persecution under Diocletian ( § 24) . St. Alban is venerated 
as the first martyr of the British Isles. Evidently the Church of 
Britain was fully organized, because as early as 314, bishops of the 
Britons are mentioned. 

110. Britain's Teutonic Invaders. — The permanent enemies 
of the Britons were the Picts of the North, in the present Scot- 
land. As long as the Roman Empire stood firm, they were 
checked, more or less, by the Roman legions. But when (in 
408) the city of Rome itself was threatened by the West Goths 
(§ 51), the Britons were told to shift for themselves, and the 
legions left the island. Native chieftains for some time drove off 
the Picts, but were soon embroiled in domestic wars among them- 
selves. Meanwhile the unrest which had seized most of the 

1 See Lingard-Birt, Roman Britain, Ch. I. Special Report : Manners and 
Religion of the Britons. 

117 



118 



BRITAIN BECOMES ENGLAND 



[§111 






Germanic tribes between the Danube and the Baltic took hold 
of the dwellers on the North Sjea also. There lived the Jutes 
in the country still named after them ; south of them the Angles 
and still farther south beyond the Elbe and far inland, the 
Saxons. (§ 52.) These now began to ravage the opposite shores. 
Soon the Britons invited these sea rovers to assist them against 

the Picts and promised 
them lands if they did so. 
As tradition has it, two 
brothers, Hengist and 
Horsa, were the first to 
land, in 449 a.d., at the 
head of these auxiliaries. 
But soon from friends they 
became enemies. Other 
bands arrived from beyond 
the North Sea. District 
after district was wrested 
from the disappointed in- 
habitants. Little Teutonic 
principalities were estab- 
lished,- which soon consoli- 
dated into seven kingdoms, 
the so-called Heptarchy: 
Kent was founded by the Jutes ; Sussex, Essex, and Wessex 
(South Saxons, East Saxons, West Saxons) by the Saxons ; East 
Anglia, Mercia, and North umbria by the Angles.^ 

111. Character of the Conquest. (1) It was very slow. — 
At home the invaders had known of no large political units ; 
hence they set out in small bands. The nature of the wooded 
country enabled the natives to make repeated stands. ^ It 

1 See Guggenberger, Vol. I, §§ 91-105. 

- The legends of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table express 
the hopes and fears of the Celts in their resistance. 




Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms about 802. 



§112] CHARACTER OF THE CONQUEST 119 

took the conquerors a century and a half to possess themselves 
of the larger eastern half of the ancient Roman dominions. 

(2) It was very thorough. — The newcomers brought with 
them paganism and an unmitigated barbarity. Their advance 
meant absolute devastation. The Roman buildings, including 
the churches, sank in ashes. The inhabitants who did not 
escape were all or nearly all killed. Many of them fled across 
the Channel to the peninsula of Armorica, since then called 
Brittany or Little Britain. In Britain they receded farther and 
farther into the West and were at last confined to the penin- 
sulas of Cornwall and Wales and the Northwest. The eastern 
part became a Teutonic land with a purely Teutonic language. 

The worst effect of the invasions was the complete destruction 
of Christianity. — Woden and Thor (§ 47) were worshiped 
in the Britain of the Anglo-Saxons. The country needed a 
new conversion to the religion of Jesus Christ. 

112. Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons. — In a.d. 597 Pope St. 
Gregory the Great sent the Benedictine monk St. Augustine ^ 
with forty companions to England to undertake the Christian- 
ization of the new occupants. The king of Kent had married 
Bertha, a Frankish princess, who now willingly lent her support 
to the missionaries. The king received baptism and allowed 
and encouraged the preaching of the Gospel in his kingdom. 
St. Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury and 
" Primate " of all England. With the assistance of the Kentish 
king, St. Paulinus began his activity as apostle of Northumbria 
and established the See of the Archbishops of York. East 
Anglia was also gained for the faith. But an invasion of 
Northumbria by the united forces of Penda, the pagan king of 
Mercia, and the Celtic king Cadwallon, " a Christian but worse 
than a pagan," destroyed much of Paulinus' work. The Celts 
of the southern peninsulas had refused to cooperate with the 
Roman missionaries. Now those of the North came to the 

^ Special Report : St. Augustjne. — T. W. Allies, Monastic Life, pp. 193 ff. 



120 



BRITAIN BECOMES ENGLAND 



[§112 



rescue. St. Aidan arrived from lona (§ 42) and, assisted by 
King St. Oswald, recovered the lost ground and perfected the 
conversion of the whole kingdom.^ 

The other kingdoms were won partly by the zeal and influence 
of the Roman missionaries from the South, partly by the activity 
of the "Scots" from the North. The Council of Whitby 
(664) put an end to some differences in matters of discipline. 




St. Martin's Church near Canterbury. 

From a photograph. Parts of the building are very old, and may have 
belonged to a church of the Roman period. At all events, on this site was 
the first Christian church in Britain used by St. Augustine and his fellow 
missionaries. A tomb, said to be Queen Bertha's, is shown in the church. 



St. Theodore, Papal Legate and Archbishop of Canterbury 
(668-690), completed the work of ecclesiastical organization. 
There was now, besides common customs and language, a new 
and strong bond of unity among the seven kingdoms, a common 
religion, and the beginnings of a common civilization. Warfare 
became less inhuman. The establishment of monasteries and 

1 Allies, Monastic Life, Ch. VI, "The Monks Make England," pp. 211 ff. 



§ 114] THE DANISH INVASION 121 

schools accompanied the coming of Christianity. There arose 
a more Hvely intercourse with the continent, and the country 
entered into the current of the intellectual and literary life of 
Europe. 

113. Political Union. — In the course of Anglo-Saxon history 
several kings wielded an influence that extended beyond their 
own particular kingdom. They are called *' Bretwaldas " 
(Broad-Wielders). But each Bretwalda's power rested on his 
own ability and success. Nor did any one of them ever extend 
his sway over all the other kingdoms. In the beginning of the 
ninth century King Egbert of Wessex rose to this position of 
Bretwalda. He first enlarged his own kingdom by adding the 
Celtic Cornwall. He then brought all the other Teutonic parts 
of the island to acknowledge his overlordship. England — 
for at that time this name came into use — was indeed still 
far from being one compact state. Still there existed about 
830 A.D. at least some kind of political union of all the Teutonic 
countries. From Egbert on there has been a united England. 
Never were the several kingdoms to rise again as separate and 
independent political units. This progress of consolidation 
had been essentially facilitated by the invasions of the North- 
men, which even from now on increased in violence.^ 

B. The Danish Invasions — Alfred the Great 

114. The Norsemen, called Danes in England, invaded 
England as they did the continent, first for plunder, then for 
settlement and conquest. Their sackings and devastations were 
of the same character (§ 101). In 850 they made their first 
permanent settlement. Soon district after district came under 
their power. By 871 the Danes were masters of all England, 
the last king of Wessex having fallen in battle. This marked 
the beginnings of one of the most glorious epochs of England's 
history, the time of Alfred the Great. 

1 See Guggenberger, Vol. I, §§ 273, 274. , 



122 BRITAIN BECOMES ENGLAND [§ 115 

115. Alfred the Great, '' England's Darling." He was the 
youngest brother of the fallen king and King Egbert's grandson. 
At first he concealed himself in marshes and fens. But he 
soon contrived to make himself formidable to the invaders. 
The Danes were signally defeated. By the treaty of Wedmore, 
878, Guthrum, their king, consented to rule one part of England 
as a vassal of Alfred. A line running from London northwest 
through Mercia, mostly along Watling Street, a famous Roman 
road, divided the territories. Guthrum himself adopted Chris- 
tianity and ever remained faithful to the promises he had made 
to Alfred, now his godfather. However, Alfred's overlordship 
over the " Danelagh " (Dane-Law) — the land of Danish rule 
— existed more in name than in reality. The Danelagh was 
practically an independent state. 

Alfred's Activity. — xVlfred found the country in a terrible 
condition. The cities with their churches lay in ruins. The 
monasteries, the chief support of literary education, were de- 
stroyed. There was ignorance beyond description, not only 
among the laity but even among the clergy, — in those days, 
the most educated class. " When I began to reign," wrote 
Alfred himself later, " I cannot remember one priest south of 
the Thames who could render his service-book (from the Latin 
in which it was written) into English." North of the Thames, 
the king explains, conditions were still worse. 

To strengthen England against future danger, Alfred re- 
organized the army and reared many a strong fort at command- 
ing positions. Eventuall}^ to meet the enemy on his own ele- 
ment he created a fleet and thereby became the '' Founder of 
the English Navy." He rebuilt the wasted towns, restored 
churches and abbeys, codified the laws, reformed the govern- 
ment, and ardently encouraged the revival of learning, eagerly 
seeking out teachers at home and abroad. In the absence of 
proper textbooks in English for his new schools he himself 
laboriously translated four standard Latin works into English, 



§115] 



ALFRED THE GREAT 



123 




124 BRITAIN BECOMES ENGLAND [§ 116 

with much comment of his own, — so adding to his other 
titles the well-deserved one of the " Father of English Prose." 

Alfred's activity was many-sided. A great historian has written of 
him, — 

*' To the scholars he gathered round him he seemed the very type 
of a scholar, snatching every hour he could find to read or listen to 
books. The singers of the court found in him a brother singer, gather- 
ing the old songs of his people to teach them to his children . . . and 
solacing himself, in hours of depression', with the music of the Psalms. 
He passed from court and study to plan buildings and instruct crafts- 
men in goldwork, or even to teach falconers and dog-keepers their 
business. . . . Each hour of the day had its appointed task. . . . 
Scholar and soldier, artist and man of business, poet and saint, his 
character kept that perfect balance which charms us in no other 
Englishman save Shakspere. ' So long as I have lived,' said he as life 
was closing, ' I have striven to live worthily ' : and again, ' I desire to 
leave to men who come after me a remembrance of me in good 
works.' " ^ 

116. Alfred's successors, his son, grandson, and great- 
grandson, took the offensive against the Danes. Edward the 
Unconquered, Athelstan the Glorious, and E.dmund the Doer 
of Deeds, contributed each his share to reconquer the Dane- 
lagh, without, however, altogether driving out the Danish in- 
habitants. Under Edgar the Peaceful the country rested un- 
disturbed. He never had to unsheath his sword, though he 
was ever ready for war, often displayed his military strength, 
and every year sailed with a fleet of three hundred ships around 
the whole island to inspire his enemies with a wholesome fear. 
Even the kings of the Celtic tribes in the far West and North 
came to his court to pay him homage. Under the strong and 
just government of Alfred's successors the old differences 
between the seven Anglo-Saxon realms and their separate 
aspirations disappeared entirely. England was One Kingdom. 

1 For a longer account of Alfred's work see Lingard-Birt, pp. 20-28 ; or 
Guggenberger, Vol. I, §§ 279-284. 



§117] SUMMARY 125 

117. Summary. — We can now survey the results of the 
immigrations of the Northmen, a belated phase of the Migration 
of Nations. Among the effects of their invasions the following 
points stand out clearly : (1) They settled some uninhabited 
countries ; (2) they brought a new element of population into 
others ; (3) they founded several states by becoming the rulers 
of the existing population ; (4) on the continent they accelerated 
the disruption of Charlemagne's empire ; (5) in England they 
helped along the political unification of the Anglo-Saxon king- 
doms ; (6) by increasing the number of destructive wars and 
the subsequent insecurity of life and property they hastened, 
in all the kingdoms of Teutonic origin, the formation of a new 
kind of government, called the Feudal System, which was 
destined to dominate the history of these nations for the next 
centuries. 

Special Reports. — 1. Ruric and the Norse kingdom" in Russia. 
2. The Varangians at Constantinople. 3. The Norse in Ireland. 
4. Norse voyages to " Vinland the Good " in America. 5. Alfred 
the Great's life and work. 

For Further Reading . — Guggenberger, or Lingard-Birt, as referred 
to in the notes. Also Wyatt-Davis. Material for Special Reports on 
religious topics will be found in Stone, The Church in English History, pp. 
1-59. Let the students discuss in how far the coming of the Northmen 
was a blessing for Europe or the contrary. 



SECTION 11. THE POLITICAL SYSTEM (FEUDALISM) 

— THE CHURCH 

CHAPTER V , 
FEUDALISM 
A. The System Explained 

118. Description. — The system of government in those days, 
Feudalism, was vastly different from ours. Instead of following 
up its gradual growth we prefer to describe this remarkable system 
as it appeared ivhen in its full and final shape. 

The administration and government of present-day states, 
republics as well as monarchies, is carried out by officials 
appointed or elected, who serve for a certain term of years and 
receive a fixed sum of money called salary for their services. 
They cannot consider their office or position their own, as they 
do their houses or gardens. Nor can they transmit their 
offices and the revenues connected with them to their sons as 
an inheritance. 

In feudal times there was little money wherewith to pay 
salaries and other government expenses. The rulers drew their 
revenues not from taxes but from large landed estates (see § 89). 
Similarly the men, who in the king's name governed the various 
districts and provinces of the realm, did not receive salaries as 
our officials do, but enjoyed the revenues from certain estates. 
Their services, however, were not only administrative but 
military as well. When called upon they were obliged to gather 
their fighting men and serve in the king's army every year for 
a definite number of weeks. When the holder of such an office 
died, all his rights and duties, as if they were private property, 

126 



§1181 



DESCRIPTION 



127 



passed on to his eldest son. But the son must, as soon as pos- 
sible, present himself before the king and "pay him homage/' 
that is, profess himself the king's "man" (Latin, homo, hence 
the word homage) or vassal. The king, in a solemn ceremony, 
called investiture, surrendered to him the lands and rights which 
the deceased vassal had possessed, just as if they were now trans- 




Carnarvon Castle, Wales. — A famous medieval fortress. The first 
Prince of Wales is said to have been born here. 

ferred for the first time. The king could not refuse this except 
for very special reasons. Such land and possessions were called 
a fief (more rarely feud). The hereditary succession was 
regulated by law or contract and could not easily be changed. 
But if there was no son or other person that could legally in- 
herit from a vassal, the fief ''escheated" to the lord, who might 
or might not grant it to some one else. 

A vassal could hand over part of his territory to a subvassal, 
who would then stand to him in the same relation as he himself 
stood to the king. Such subinfeudation was extremely common. 



128 FEUDALISM [§ 119 

The subvassals again did the same. Thus a kingdom was broken 
up into an indefinite number of larger and smaller fiefs. Each 
prominent man, as a rule, was at the same time lord and vassal : 
lord toward his own vassals, and vassal toward his lord. To 
this it must be added that the rights and duties were in each 
case fixed by contract, although usage had induced a certain 
uniformity. The king or lord might give more of governmental 
rights to one vassal than to another. 

A certain ceremonial attended the act of investiture. The vassal 
knelt before his lord, and placing his hands in or between his 
lord's pronounced the oath of fealty or homage. The lord then 
surrendered the fief to him, '' invested " him with it, — by 
handing to him something that was representative of it, as a 
clod of earth or a bunch of ears of corn, or, especially in the case 
of the higher fiefs, a sword or a glove or a spear with a banner. 
Then followed the lord's promise of protection and the kiss of 
peace. The act of investiture was less solemn in the case of 
smaller fiefs. 

119. Benefice ; Commendation. — So far we have had in 
view the cases in which a vassal received a fief not yet in his 
or his father's possession. Such a fief was a benefice. It must 
be kept in mind, however, that originally there was very much 
land which did not in its possession depend on any lord, but was 
the owner's full property, — save for the rights of the king as 
sovereign hea,d of the state. Such possessions, called allods, 
often were very extensive, and the owner naturally would divide 
them up among vassals. If an allod was small, the owner might 
find it more advantageous to be the vassal of some mighty lord 
than to be exposed to attacks of powerful enemies. He might 
then proceed to the act of commendation, that is, he surrendered 
his property to the lord and received it back from him as a fief, 
taking upon himself the usual obligations or such as were agreed 
upon. In the ages of insecurity commendation was constantly 
reducing the area of allodial land, so that the slogan, " no land 



§ 120] RELATION OF LORD AND VASSAL 129 

without a lord, no lord without land," pretty nearly expressed 
the actual condition. 

120. Relation of Lord and Vassal. — The Lord's Position 
and Obligations. — The vassal was far from considering his 
position degrading. Those only were vassals who were not 
obliged to work with their hands. The lowest vassal had his 
estate worked by serfs and villeins. (See below, § 122.) Both 
lord and vassal belonged to the nobility. In fact they lived on 
terms of familiarity and mutual respect. Was the king himself, 
after all, more than a vassal of God ? The lord was admired and 
almost worshiped by his people ; and in return, however harsh 
himself, he permitted no one else to injure or insult one of his 
dependents. An honorable noble, indeed, lived always under 
a stern sense of obligation to all the people subject to him. A 
rough paternalism ruled in society. 

A passage from Joinville's Memoir of St. Louis illustrates this better 
side of the feudal relation. Joinville was a great French noble of the 
thirteenth century, about to set out on a crusade with the king (§ 254). 
At Eastertide he summoned his vassals to his castle for a week of feast- 
ing and dancing in honor of his approaching departure. " And on the 
Friday I said to them : ' Sirs, I am going beyond sea and know not 
whether I shall ever return; so draw near to me. If I have ever done 
you any wrong, I will redress it to one after another, as is my practice 
with all who have anything to ask of me.' And I made amends to 
them, according to the decisions of those dwelling on my lands; and, 
that I might not influence them, I withdrew from their deliberations and 
carried out without dispute whatever they decided." 

How sacred the lord considered his duty of assisting his vassals, is 
graphically pictured in the Nibelungenlied, the greatest German epic of 
the Middle Ages. King Gunther undergoes the utmost hardships and 
risks rather than deliver up one of his vassals to the vengeance of a 
personal enemy. 

It goes without saying that all lords did not come up to this 
ideal. Many no doubt seriously abused their power. By 
doing so, however, they brought upon themselves a general 
contempt and hatred. 



130 



FEUDALISM 



[§121 



On the other hand, the vassal took pride in fighting with and 
for his lord and assisting at all the great functions, such as 
weddings, banquets, court proceedings, in the lord's residence. 
121. The vassal's obligations, after the system had become 
more or less fixed, may be summed up chiefly under three 
heads : 

(1) The vassal was to present himself, at the call of his lord,^ 
to serve in war, — perhaps alone, or perhaps followed by an army 

of knights and men-at- 
arms, according to the size 
of his fief. He could be 
compelled to serve only a 
fixed time each year, com- 
monly forty days, but for 
that time he was to main- 
tain himself and his men. 




A Baron's Court. 
From a sixteenth century woodcut. 



The short term of service 
made the feudal army of little 
use for distant expeditions; 
and indeed vassals were sometimes not under obligation to follow their 
lord out of the realm. The jealousies between the vassals, and the ab- 
sence of discipline except that of a lord over his immediate followers, 
made the feudal array an unwieldy instrument for offensive warfare. 

(2) The vassal was bound to serve also in the lord^s " court,'' 
usually at three periods each year. The court had two distinct 
functions. (1) As a judicial body, it gave judgment in legal 
disputes between vassals ; and (2) as a council, it advised the 
lord in all important matters. 

A vassal, accused even by his lord, could be condemned only 
by this judgment of his peers (Latin pares), or equals. The lord 
was only the presiding officer, not the judge. The second office 
of the court was even more important : the lord could not count 
upon support in any serious undertaking unless he first secured 



^ Pennsylvania Reprints, IV, No. 3, gives forms of summons. 



§ 121] THE VASSAL'S OBLIGATIONS 131 

the approval of his counciL In feudal language, the council 
*' advised and consented." This expression, through English 
practice, has come down into our Constitution : our President is 
empowered to do certain things '' with the advice and con- 
sent " of the Senate. 

(3) The vassal did not pay the lord " taxes," in the usual 
sense of that word, but on certain special occasions he did have 
to make four kinds of financial contributions. (1) Upon receiv- 
ing a fief, either as a gift or as an inheritance, he paid the 
lord a sum of money. ^ It was called a relief, and commonly it 
amounted to a year's revenue. (2) If the vassal wished to sell 
his fief, or to sublet part of it, he was obliged to pay for the 
lord's consent. (3) Upon other occasions he made payments 
known as aids. The three most common purposes were to ran- 
som the lord, if a prisoner, and to help meet the expense of knight- 
ing the lord's eldest son and of the marriage of his eldest daughter. 
(4) Similar to such payments, but more oppressive, was the 
obligation to entertain the lord and all his following upon a visit. 
Frequently, however, it was set forth in the contract how often 
the lord might call and how he was to be treated. 

The lord had other claims upon the fief, which under certain circum- 
stances might produce revenue. (1) He assumed the guardianship of a 
minor heir, and took to himself the revenues of the fief at such times, on 
the ground that there was no holder to render the service for which it 
had been granted. (2) He claimed the right to dispose of a female ward 
in marriage, — so as to secure for her a husband who should be a satis- 
factory vassal, — and then commonly he sold to the woman the right 
to marry without interference. To extort huge sums heartless lords 
would present hateful suitors. Thus the accoiuits of the kings of 
England contain various entries similar to the following one : " Hawissa, 
who was wife to William Fitz-Roberts, renders [to the king] 130 marks 
and 4 paKreys, that she may have peace from Peter of Borough, to 
whom the king has given permission to marry her, and that she may not 

1 The payment of this sum by the son of a deceased vassal was a recog- 
nition of the fact that in theory the fief had been granted only for the life 
of the previous holder and that it had reverted to the higher lord. Cf. § 118. 



132 FEUDALISM [§ 122 

be compelled to marry." (3) In the absence of heirs, the fief returned 
{escheated) to the lord (§118) ; and (4) if the vassal's duties were not 
performed, it might come back to him by forfeiture, through a decision 
of his court. 

122. Nobility and Workers. — Those men only who were not 
obliged to work with their hands made up the feudal world in 
the strict sense of the term. They alone were able to equip 
themselves with everything necessary to serve on horseback 
(§ 128). At first it was the possession of a fief or of property 
sufficient for this purpose, and other reasons, which sharply 
distinguished them from the rest of the people. They and their 
descendants formed the nobility or knighthood^ for which the 
property qualification alone was no longer sufficient or necessary. 
Not all those of noble lineage actually possessed fiefs or allodial 
property. Many were simply attached to some great lord. 
But they alone might be invested with fiefs or enjoy certain 
other privileged positions at the courts of the mighty. 

The fields were tilled by serfs and villeins (the latter word from 
the Latin villa, rural possession, see § 34 (1)). They stood, 
however, in a relation to their lord somewhat similar to that of 
the noble vassal. They received modest farms, the proceeds of 
which were their own. Instead of rendering military service 
they were obliged to serve a specified number of days in the 
lord's fields and had to deliver to him a certain percentage of 
their own crops. There existed of course no social equality 
between them and their masters, from whom they and their 
children remained socially separated by a hard and fast line. 
Still a beautiful, not to say cordial, relation often existed 
between the lord and his peasantry. The serfs, as in the later 
Roman Empire, were bound to the soil and were bought and sold 
with it. Their condition was often very miserable, because 
they depended greatly on the good will or the whims of their 
master. The villeins might leave the lord's service if they 
pleased, just as a tenant is at liberty to give up the farm he 



§ 122] NOBILITY AND WORKERS 133 

has rented. But it was risky for him to remain without any 
other master. The lordless and landless man could count on 
little protection.^ 

Serfdom and villeinage ran into each other in the most con- 
fusing manner, so that they are often referred to under either 
name. This dependent class had partly arisen out of the old 



An Act of Homage. — From a twelfth-century manuscript. 

slavery, which existed among the Teutons also. But slavery, 
chiefly owing to Christian influence, had greatly diminished. 
Nor was there any slave trade deserving of the name. Villeinage 
in particular often originated by something similar to " com- 
mendation" (§119). In the troublous times the free peasant 
might prefer the safety of the dependent worker to the in- 
security of his own freedom. He preferably sought the protec- 
tion of the ecclesiastical institutions, monasteries, for instance, 

1 The way in which the higher classes thought of the villein is shown by 
the fact that his name became a term of reproach ("villain"). 



134 FEUDALISM [§ 123 

by surrendering himself to their service. Written contracts 
specified the burdens he was going to take upon himself. 

In some regions, the Swiss mountains for instance, a large 
number if not all the farmers remained free. In the course 
of time, too, the lot of the dependent worker improved greatly, 
so that preachers inveighed no less against the extravagance of 
the peasants than that of other classes. 

123. Origin. — It must not be imagined that Feudalism 
sprung into existence suddenly and in its full final shape, as 
when a city or state introduces a new system of education. It 
took centuries to grow. Its beginnings go far back into the 
time before Charlemagne. The great landholders found it 
easier to divide their immense estates among tenants who paid 
their rent by services. This practice existed in the later Roman 
Empire and may have been taken over by the Germans. The 
kings frequently were not in a position to grant the necessary 
military protection. But the little army of tenants, later on 
called vassals, was often strong enough to repel attacks from 
rapacious neighbors or foreign enemies. The old custom of 
companionship among the Teutons (§ 48), by which a daring 
leader would attach to himself a band of loyal followers who 
were ready to devote their warlike energies to his honor and 
protection, had its influence on the new relation. The military 
force was ever ready or could be collected almost at a moment's 
notice. 

124. Originally, in the Germanic kingdoms, every freeholder, 
large or small, was bound to military service. As a matter of 
fact, this national army was rarely summoned. iVs has been 
mentioned, freeholders often " commended " themselves to 
some powerful lord. The latter, then, as a rule tried to have 
them exempted from the general duty, which meant an increase 
of his own military force. The king's army more and more came 
to consist of feudal levies, even at the time of Charlemagne. 

Charlem'agne abolished the tribal dukedoms (§ 90), and had 



§ 125] PECULIARITIES 135 

his realm administered by counts who were changed from time 
to time. Later on many of these counts succeeded, under weak 
kings, in making themselves feudal lords of their districts/ 
partly by the voluntary submission of freeholders, partly by 
violence and usurpation. In several parts, even ducal families 
rose again and made their position hereditary. The king's 
army, if he succeeded in gathering one at all, was now essentially 
feudal, consisting of vassals and sub-vassals. 

Moreover, the infantry, once the main part of the national 
army, lost its importance when the Arabian or Hungarian 
raiders appeared on their fleet horses or the Danes in their light 
boats. The swift, mail-clad horseman now became the main 
reliance. As every warrior had to come up for his own equip- 
ment, only the wealthier could afford serving on horseback. 
This circumstance partly caused, and at any rate tended -to 
perpetuate, the difference between the poor peasant and the 
nobleman, whose sole occupation consisted in fighting or being 
ready for fighting. (See § 126.) 

The nobleman's castle at the same time afforded protec- 
tion to his serfs and villeins. In its fortifications they found a 
refuge when an inroad threatened, and though their modest 
dwellings might be burned down, at least their life was safe, 
and they could return to their fields after the storm had 
swept by. 

Thus Feudalism arose out of a great variety of causes. And 
though it always supposed the existence of a supreme head of the 
state, it owed much of its predominance to the fact that the 
kings were not always powerful enough to meet the ever-repeated 
attacks of foreign foes. 

125. Peculiarities. — To understand the system more fully 
and to see to What complications it was able to lead, the student 
must keep in mind several peculiarities : 

1 In feudal times the word county meant a territory, large or small, ruled 
over by a count. 



136 



FEUDALISM 



[§ 125 




A Gerivl^n Knight 
OF THE Twelfth 
Century. 



Frcwn a contenipo 
raiy nianuscript. 



(1) The miisal was hound to his lord, but 
not to his lord^' lord. Hence the maxim, 
'*il/v vassaVs vassal is not my vassal.'' Hence 
too, there was no appeal from the lord's 
^•erdict to the overlord. The king only, as 
the supreme champion of right and justice, 
might interfere, but he was far away and it 
was rarely possible to lay the matter before 
him. Nor was a sub vassal guilty of treason 
if his lord offended against the higher lord 
and summoned the subvassals to a war 
against the latter. The vassais were like so 
many little kings, each in his own small or 
large fief. The 



system tended to 
a complete decen- 
tralization of power. France at one 
time was divided among some 70,000 
fief holders. 

(2) A man coidd hold fiefs from dif- 
ferent lords. He then became the vas- 
sal of two or more lords. When tak- 
ing his oath of fealty he would, in such 
a case, expressly reserve the rights of 
his first lord, and he could not be 
forced to war against him. He might 
take land from one who otherwise was 
his inferior on the social ladder, even 
from his own vassal. The obligations 
were always laid down in carefully 
worded contracts. It is evident what 
a complication of relations — we are 
strongly inclined to call it confusion 
— could thus be brought about. 




Knight in Plate Armor, 
visor up. — From Lacroix, 
Vie Militaire, 



§ 125] PECULIARITIES 137 

Thus the Count of Champagne in the thirteenth century was lord of 
twenty-six castles, scattered over north-central France, each the center 
'of a separate fief. Most of these he held from the King of France, but 
others of them he held from seven other suzerains, — among them the 
emperor and the Duke of Burgundy. Some of these lords of the count 
were now and then at war with one another. The count had sublet his 
land among 2000 vassals, but many of these held lands also from other 
suzerains, — sometimes from suzerains of the count. 

(3) Not only individuals hut corporations as well could enter into the 
relation of either lord or vassal. This is particularly true of ecclesiastical 
institutions, as bishoprics and monasteries. From rulers and other 
pious persons they obtained property of both kinds, allodial as well 
as feudal. By the latter the bishop or abbot or abbess became a vassal, 
obliged to furnish a certain number of soldiers to the lord, who might 
or might not be the king himself. According to the laws of Church 
and State, however, clerics were not allowed to fight in person.^ Their 
possessions, allodial and feudal, they would hand over to vassals. It was 
the ecclesiastical institutions, too, that received proportionately many 
possessions by way of " commendation." The burdens they imposed 
were as a rule lighter than those exacted by lay lords. Besides, the 
lands thus surrendered became ecclesiastical possessions and en- 
joyed the special protection granted by stringent laws of the Church 
against violators of sacred property. 

Later on when the cities rose to importance, they also might accept 
or grant fiefs. 

(4) As already stated, the terms of " fief," " vassal," " lord," or 
" suzerain," in the full sense of the word implied the obligation of military 
service and enjoyment of certain governmental powers. Yet after the 
system was more developed, there were fiefs without the one or the other, 
even without either. All depended on the conditions of the agreement. 
Such fiefs may be said to hold a middle place between the fiefs proper 
and the lands allotted to serfs and villeins. It also happened that no 
land at all was conferred but some other privilege, for instance the right 
of collecting certain tolls or revenues. 

1 This prohibition was unfortunately not always observed. In the times 
of disorder, abbots and even bishops are met with who appeared in armor 
and on horseback at the head of their contingents. 



138 



FEUDALISM 



[§126 



B. Military Features of Feudalism 

126. (1) Castles. — The nobleman's residence and the heart 
and center of the fief was the castle (from the Latin castellum, 
fort) . In the beginning the castles were merely wooden block- 
houses surrounded by palisades and ditches. But they were 

soon followed by massive 
stone structures. The 
main part of the medieval 
castle was the keep, a 
very strong tower, in 
which originally the lord's 
family would reside. In 
case of assault it served 
as the last refuge. Its 
walls were often enor- 
mously thick, so that 
a man crawling out of 
a window would have 
to creep three times his 
length. The secret stair- 
way leading up to these 
floors was sometimes con- 
cealed within these walls. 
Connected with the keep 
were other buildings for 
the servants and the pro- 
visions harvested from 
the lord's fields. Very 
frequently the castle crowned the top of some steep hill, where 
it was often surrounded on one or more sides by precipices. 
If erected .in the plain the castle was protected by a moat, a 
ditch filled with water, over which usually a drawbridge gave 
access to the strongly defended gate. (Note the portcullis, a 




Drawbridge and Portcullis. 
From Gautier's La Chevalerie. 



§126] 



CASTLES 



139 



heavy iron grating which could be dropped from above, in the 
picture on opposite page.) The gate was often flanked by towers, 
from whose sHthke windows bowmen could harass the assailants 
with their arrows. As the art of building progressed the great 
feudatory lords erected more elaborate castles, which often 
included several acres within their walls. The lord's family no 
longer dwelt in the narrow and gloomy keep but in a more 
elegantly constructed sec- 
tion or in an extra " hall." 
Our two illustrations show 
types of such sumptuously 
built castles. 



Until the days of gun- 
powder, feudal castles were 
virtually impregnable to ordi- 
nary attack. They could be 
captured only by surprise, by 
treachery, or by famine. Se- 
cure of such retreat, a petty 
lord could sometimes defy 
even his own sovereign with 
impunity. Too often the cas- 
tles became themselves the 
seats of robber-barons who 
oppressed the country around 
them. To-day their gray ruins 
all over Europe give a peculiar 
picturesqueness to the land- 
scape, mocking, even in decay, 
the slighter structures of mod- 
ern times. 




Medieval Castle of the larger sort, with 
moat and drawbridge. — A "restora- 
tion," from Gautier's La Chevalerie. 



(2) " Men-at-Arms." — The castles afforded a refuge for 
man and treasure. But during the invasions, the problem in the 
field had been to bring to bay the swiftly moving assailants, — 
the light horsemen of the Hungarians, or the Danes with their 
swift boats for refuge. The Frankish infantry had proved too 



140 



FEUDALISM 



[§126 



slow. Feudalism met this need also. Each castle was always 
ready to pour forth its band of trained and faithful men-at- 
arms {horsemen in mail, knights), under the command of the lord, 
either to gather quickly with other bands into an army under a 

higher lord, or by them- 
selves to cut off stragglers 
and hold the fords and 
passes. The raider's day 
was over ; but meantime 
the old Teutonic foot mili- 
tia, in which every free- 
man had held a place, had 
given way to an iron-clad 
cavalry, — the resistless 
weapon of the new feudal 
aristocracy. 

(3) Armor. — In the 
early feudal period, down 
to 1100, the defensive armor 
was an iron cap and a 
leather garment for the 
body, covered with iron 
scales. Then came in 
coats of "' chain-mail," ^ 
reaching from neck to feet, 
with a hood of like ma- 
terial for the head. Still 
later appeared the heavy 
'' plate armor," and the 
helmet with visor, which we usually associate with feudal war- 
fare. A suit of this armor weighed fifty pounds or more ; and 
in battle the warrior bore also a weighty shield, besides his long 
sword and his lance. Necessarily the warhorse that carried a 
1 The warrior in the first illustration on page 136 wears this armor. 




The Castle of Pierrefonds in the four- 
teenth century. — A "restoration" by 
Viollet le Due. 



§ 127] PRIVATE WARS AND THE "TRUCE OF GOD" 141 



heavy man so equipped was a powerful animal ; and he too had 
parts of his body protected by iron plates. 

The supremacy of the noble over common men during the 
Middle Ages (before the invention of gunpowder) lay mainly in 
this equipment. He could ride down a mob of unarmed footmen 
at will. The peasants and serfs who sometimes followed the 
feudal army to the field, to slay the wounded and plunder the 
dead, wore no armor 
and wielded only pikes 
or clubs and pitch- 
forks. Naturally they 
came to be called in- 
fantry; that is, boys 
(from the Latin iri- 
f antes, children). 

127. Private Wars 
and the '^ Truce of 
God." — The nobility 
was an ever ready 
militia, consisting of 
professional fighters, 
who thought of war 
as a most honorable 
occupation. It is not 
surprising that they 
would often refuse to 
submit to whatever courts there were, and would prefer to settle 
their own disputes by an appeal to the sword instead of to the 
law. The lords of the castles claimed the right of private war- 
fare. They resorted to it to redress the wrongs, real or imag- 
inary, which they or their vassals had suffered. The result was 
in many parts of Europe a new general state of insecurity which 
hindered the growth of industry and severely damaged agricul- 
ti^re. Neutral parties had to endure more than the belligerents. 





OH 



Villeins Receiving Directions for Work. 

From a miniature in a fifteenth-century manu- 
script. 



142 FEUDALISM [§ 127 

Plunderings and the destruction of whole villages accompanied 
every such strife. There was a crying need of some antidote, but 
who would be able to give it ? In France, particularly, where 
in the beginning the royal power was very weak, something had 
to be done. 

In the beginning of the eleventh century the bishops of France 
introduced the Truce of God. There was to be no private war- 
fare during the holy seasons of Advent and Lent. During the 
rest of the year it remained forbidden from the Wednesday night 
of each week until the morning of the following Monday. Thus 
the Truce of God established about 240 days of peace every 
year. Transgressors were threatened with the severest penal- 
ties. Soon this law found its way into other states. It was 
probably never completely observed in any region, but even its 
partial observance greatly tended to diminish the devastations 
and other evils of private wars. For France it was of the greatest 
importance. It was, says an historian, " the first step in the 
making of France," because it curbed " by religious discipline 
the powerful but turbulent elements of that gifted race." 
(See Guggenberger, I, § 345.) 




Jugglers. — From a tliirteenth-century manuscript. 



J 



CHAPTER VI 



LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGE 



A. The Manor and Its Population 

There were few towns in Western Europe until the twelfth cen- 
tury, and the new town life of that period will be discussed in its 
place (§§ 254 ff.)- Society was mainlf rural. It is the work and the 
home life of this rural society with which this chapter deals. The 
essential features of medieval life were more or less the same all over 
feudal Europe. But we have here in view chiefly the conditions and 
customs of England. 

128. The Manor. — The possessions which the knight cul- 
tivated through his own villeins (or serfs) formed a manor, the 
center of which was his castle, grand or modest, according to his 
means. Rich landowners, however, divided their estates into 
several manors often widely separated. In each manor they 
erected a manor house, in which the chief steward lived and the 
crops and provisions were stored. Some manor houses were 
only a little better and more spacious than the dwellings of the 
villeins, others were imposing and more similar to the castle 
proper. The villeins of the manor commonly lived together 
in a village near the manor house. Each village had its church, 
usually at a little distance, with grounds about it, part of which 
was used as a graveyard, " God's Acre." At one end of the 
village street was the lord's smithy, and on some convenient 

143 



144 



LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGE 



[§129 




Ancient Manor House, Melichope, Eng- 
land ; in its present condition. The 
stairway leading to the upper story is 
cut into the thick wall. — ■ From Wright's 
Homes of Other Days. 




Hall of Stoke Castle. — -Stoke Castle 
is but a modest manor house of the 
thirteenth century. 



stream the lord's mill. 
The smith and the miller 
were usually serfs or vil- 
leins, and spent most of 
their labor on the land, 
but they were somewhat 
better housed and more 
favored than the rest of 
their class. 

Peasant Homes. ^ — The 
other dwellings were low 
and narrow, plainly built 
of wood and clay, and 
thatched with straw. 
They had usually no chim- 
ney or floor, and often no 
opening (no window) ex- 
cept the door. They 
straggled along either 
side of an irregular lane. 
Behind each house was its 
garden patch and its low 
stable and barn. 

129. Farming. — The 
plow land was divided in- 
to three great '' fields " 
or three groups of fields. 
One field was sown to 
wheat (in the fall) ; one 
to rye or barley (in the 
spring) ; and the third lay 
fallow, to recuperate. The 



^ For a description of the French peasant's home of the fourteenth century 
see Gasquet, The Black Death, p. 63 f. 



§129] 



FARMING 



145 



next year this third field would be the wheat land, while the old 
wheat field would raise the barley, and so on. This primitive 
" rotation of crops " kept a third of the land idle. 

Every " field " was divided into a great number of narrow strips, 
each as nearly as possible a " furrow-long," ^ and one, two, or four rods 
wide, so that each contained from a quarter of an acre to an acre. 
Usually the strips were separated by " balks," or ridges of turf. A 




A Reaper's Cart Going Uphill. 

After Jusserand's English Wayfaring Life: from a fourteenth-century 
manuscript. The force of men and horses indicates the nature of the road. 
The steepness of the hill is of course, exaggerated so as to fit the picture to 
jthe space in the manuscript. 

peasant's holding was about thirty acres, ten acres in each " field " ; 
and his share in each lay not in one piece, but in fifteen or thirty scattered 
strips. The lord's land, probably half the whole, lay in strips like the 
rest, and was managed by his steward. 

Of course this kind of holding compelled a " common " cultivation. 
That is, each man must sow what his neighbor sowed ; and as a rule, 
each could sow, till, and harvest only when his neighbors did. Agri- 
culture was crude. Even the lord's stewards did not know how to get 
good returns from the land. They expected only six or eight bushels 
of wheat or rye from an acre. Walter of Henley, a thirteenth-century 

^ This expression is the origin of our "furlong." 



146 LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGE [§ 130 

writer on agriculture, says that threefold the seed was an average 
harvest, and that often a man was lucky to get back his seed grain and 
as much again. 

The plow, made almost entirely of wood, required eight oxen, 
and then it did hardly more than scratch the surface of the 
ground. (See picture on p. 171.) Carts were few and cum- 
brous. The distance to the outlying parts of the fields added 
to the labor of the villagers. There was little or no cultivation 
of root foods. Potatoes, of course, were unknown. Sometimes 
turnips and cabbages and carrots were grown in garden plots 
behind the houses. The wheat and rye in the " fields " were 
raised for breadstuffs, and the barley for brewing beer. 

The most important crop was the wild hay, upon which 
the cattle had to be fed during the winter. Meadowland was 
twice as valuable as plow land. The meadow w^as fenced for 
the hay harvest, but' was afterward thrown open for pasture. 
Usually there were other extensive pasture and wood lands, 
where lord and villagers fattened their cattle and swine. 

It was difficult enough to carry animals through the winter for 
the necessary farm work. So those to be used for food were 
killed in the fall and salted down. The large use of salt meat 
and the little variety in food often caused diseases among the 
people. The chief luxury among the poor was honey, which 
took the place of sugar. 

130. Each village was a world in itself. — Even the different villages 
of the same lord had little intercourse with one another. Each produced 
everything it needed. The lord's bailiff secured from some distant 
market such products as could not be supplied at home, e.g. salt, 
millstones, and iron. Except for this, a village was hardly touched 
by the great outside world — unless a war desolated it, or a royal pro- 
cession chanced to pass through it. This shut-in life was monoto- 
nous. Yet pictures found in the manuscript books of the time show that 
it was by no means without its pastimes and amusements. We shall 
see how great and wholesome an influence was exercised on it by the 
Church (§ 144). 



§132] 



LIFE IN THE CASTLE 



147 



131. The Court of the Manor. — The manor was self-sufRcient 
to a large extent even in the Hne of government. At its head 
was the court of the manor, composed of all the men. This 
court met every three or four weeks. As all the holdings in the 
manor were hereditary, customs had grown up, which it was 
beyond the steward's and even the lord's power to change. 
The court decided 

cases according to this 
unwritten law. The 
lord's steward pre- 
sided and exercised 
very great power ; but 
all took part, and the 
older men had an im- 
portant voice in de- 
claring " the custom 
of the manor," a thing 
which differed in every 
two manors, and which 
held the place of town 
legislation among us. 
The assembly settled 
disputes between vil- 
lagers, imposed penal- 
ties upon any who had 
broken '' the customs 
of the manor," and, from time to time, redistributed the strips 
of plow land among the village families. In England such gather- 
ings sent their presiding' officer and their " four best men " to 
the larger local assemblies (§ 155). 

B. Life of the Nobility 

132. Life in the Castle. — When not actually engaged in war 
or in some private feud, the nobleman lived in his castle and 




Peasants' May Dance. — From a miniature 
in the BibKothfeque Nationale in Paris. 



148 



LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGE 



[§133 



enjoyed the company of his family. He trained his sons or 
pages in the military arts and showed interest in their progress. 
He looked after the administration of his estates. The 
" Courts " (§ 121, 2) also took up much of his time. 

The lady was the queen of the castle and herself supervised 
all the details of the household. The bunch of keys which 
hung from her belt was the exterior sign of her dominion. But 

she was well acquainted 
with the finer arts of em- 
broidery as well, and took 
pride in displaying the work 
of her nimble hands. The 
famous Bayeux Tapestry 
(see pictures to § 153) is 
said to have been made by 
Mathilda, the wife of Wil- 
liam the Conqueror ; this 
is rather doubtful, but the 
fact that it is attributed to 
her shows what occupations 
and accomplishments were 
considered both honorable 
and desirable in ladies of 
rank. 

133. The favorite sport of this fighting age was a sort of 
mock battle called a tournament. — Kings and great lords 
gave such entertainments, to win popular applause, on all 
joyous occasions, — the marriage of a daughter, the knighting 
of a son, the celebration of a victory. ' 

Every student should know the splendid story of the combats 
in " the lists of Ashby " in Scott's Ivanhoc, and any mere de- 
scription is tame in comparison. As there portrayed, the news 
of the coming event was carried far and near for weeks in ad- 
vance. Knights began to journey to the appointed place, 




A Victor in a Tournament. 
drawing by Diirer. 



After a 



§ 134] CHASE AND FALCONRY 149 

perhaps from all parts of a kingdom, in groups that grew ever 
larger as the roads converged. Some came to win fame ; some 
to repair their fortunes, — since the knight who overthrew 
an opponent possessed his horse and armor and the ransom of 
his person, as in real war. The knightly cavalcade might be 
joined or followed by a motley throng journeying to the same 
destination ; among them, jugglers to win small coins by amusing 
the crowds, and traveling merchants with their wares on the 
backs of donkeys. There were few inns, but the mixed group 
of travelers found ready welcome for meals and lodging at any 
castle or manor house. 

. The contests took place in a space (the " lists ") shut off 
from interference by palisades. The balconies above, gay with 
streamers and floating scarfs, were crowded with ladies and 
nobles and perhaps with rich townsmen. Below, a mass of 
peasants and other common men jostled one another for the 
better chances to see the contestants. Sometimes two or more 
days were given to the combats. Part of the time, one group 
of knights " held the lists " against all comers, affording a series 
of single combats on horseback and on foot. Again, two mimic 
armies met in the melee. Perhaps even the yeomen were 
allowed to show their skill with the bow and in wrestling. 

134. Chase and Falconry. — The population was thinly scat- 
tered, and large districts everywhere were waste or forest. 
This gave admirable opportunity for hunting to the inhabit- 
ants of every castle. Hunting was the second most important 
sport of the nobles, and it was a monopoly possessed by that 
class, protected by cruel and bloody custom. For a common 
man to be found with a haunch of venison, or even with a 
hare, meant the loss of eyes or hands. 

Indeed, hunting was more than sport. The table of every 
castle depended in large measure upon a steady supply of 
game. The larger wild animals, — bear, deer, wild boars, — ■ 
were brought to bay with dogs, and slain by the hunter with 



150 LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGE [§ 135 

spear or short sword. (This was the " chase.") Smaller game 
— herons, wild ducks, rabbits — were hunted with trained 
hawks. (This was " falconry.") Each castle counted among 
its most trusted servants a falconer, who saw to the capture of 
young hawks (falcons) and trained them to fly at game and to 
bring it back to the master. Falconry was the peculiar medie- 
val form of hunting, and lords and ladies were madly devoted 
to the sport. Many a noble lady, even on a long journey of 
many days, rode, falcon on wrist, ready at any moment to 
'' cast off " if a game bird rose beside the road, — somewhat as 
the backwoodsman carries his rifle on a journey, always ready 
for a stray deer. 

135. Feasting filled a large part of the noble's life. Meals were 
served in the great hall of the castle, and were the social hours of the 
day. Tables were set out on movable trestles, and the household, 
visitors, and dependents gathered about them on seats and benches, 
with nice respect for precedence in rank, — the master and his noblest 
guests at the head, and the lowest servants toward the bottom of the 
long line. A profusion of food in many courses, especially at the midday 
" dinner," was carried in from the kitchen across the open courtyard. 
Peacocks, swans, whole boars, or at least boar heads, were among the 
favorite roasts; and huge venison ''pies" were a common dish. 
Mother Goose's " four and twenty blackbirds " had real models in 
many a medieval pasty which, when opened, let live birds escape, to 
be hunted down among the rafters of the hall by falcons. 

At each guest's place was a knife, to cut slices from the roasts within 
his reach, and a spoon for broths, but no fork or napkin or plate. Each 
one dipped his hand into the pasties, carrying the dripping food directly 
to his mouth. Loaves of bread were crumbed up and rolled between 
the hands to wipe off the surplus gravy, and then thrown to the dogs 
under the tables ; and between courses, servants passed basins of water 
and towels. The food was washed down with huge draughts of wine, 
usually diluted with water. A prudent steward of King Louis IX of 
France (Joinville, § 137) tells us how he " caused the wine of the varlets 
(at the bottom of the tables) to be well watered, but less water to be 
put in the wine of the squires, and before each knight [he] caused to be 
placed a huge goblet of wine and a goblet of water," — a judicious hint 
which it is to be hoped some knights accepted. 



§136] 



CHIVALRY 



151 



During the midday and evening meals, there was much opportunity 
for conversation, especially with strange guests, who repaid the hos- 
pitality by the news of the districts from which they came. Intervals 
between courses, too, were sometimes filled with story-telling and 
song, and with rude jokes by the lord's " jester " or " fool," 



136. Chivalry. — This grim life had its romantic and gentle 
side, indicated to us by the name chivalry. The term at first 
meant the nobles on horseback (from the 
French cheval, horse), but it came to stand 
for the whole institution of '' knighthood." 
Chivalry grew up slowly between 1000 and 
1200 A.D. We will look at it in its fully de- 
veloped form. 

There were two stages in the training of 
a young, noble for knighthood. 

a. At about the age of seven he was sent 
from his own home into the household of his 
father's suzerain, or of some other noble 
friend, to become a page. Here, for seven or 
eight years, with other boys, he waited on the 
lord and lady of the castle, serving them at A Court Fool. — 

table and running their errands. As soon as After a medieval 

, , miniature m bnl- 

he was strong enough, he was trained daily, liant colors. Many 

by some old man-at-arms, in riding and in the great lords kept ^ 

*^ . . such jesters. 

use of light arms. But his attendance was 

paid, chiefly to some lady of the castle, and by her, in return, 
he was taught obedience, courtesy, and a knight's duty to re- 
ligion and to ladies. 

b. At fourteen or fifteen the page becaqje a squire to the lord. 
Now he oversaw the care of his lord's horse and the cleaning of 
his shining armor ; he went with his lord to the hunt, armed him 
for battle, carried his shield, and accompanied him in the field, 
with special care for his safety. 

After five or six years of such service, at the age of twenty 




152 



LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGE 



[§136 



or twenty-one, the squire's education was completed. He was 
now ready to become a knight. Admission to the order of 
knighthood was a matter of imposing ceremonial. The youth 
bathed (a symbol of purification), fasted, made his confession 
to a priest, and then spent the night in the chapel in prayer, 
" watching " his arms. The next morning came solemn services 




The Exercise of the Quintain. — The boys ride, by turns, at the wooden 
figure. If the rider strikes the shield squarely in the center, it is well. If 
he hits only a glancing blow, the wooden figure swings on its foot and 
whacks him with its club as he passes. 

in the church and a sermon upon the duties of a knight. 
Then the household gathered in the castle yard, along with 
many visiting knights^ and ladies and their attendants. In the 
background of this gay scene a servant held a noble horse, 
soon to be the charger of the new knight. The candidate 
knelt before the lord of the castle, and there took the " vow " to 
be a brave and gentle knight, to defend the church, to protect 
ladies, to succor the distressed, especially widows and orphans. 



§ 137] CHRISTIAN CHARACTER OF KNIGHTHOOD 153 

Then the lord of the castle or some other prominent knight 
struck him lightly over the shoulder with the flat of the sword, 
exclaiming, '* In the name of God, of St. Michael, and of St. 
George, I dub you knight." This was the "accolade." Next 
the ladies of the castle put his new armor upon him, gave him 
his sword, and buckled on a knight's golden spurs. Then the 
newly made knight vaulted upon his horse and gave some ex- 
hibition of his skill in arms and in horsemanship ; and the festival 
closed with games and feasting and the exchange of gifts.^ 

More honored still was the noble who had been dubbed 
knight by some famous leader on the field of victory, as the 
reward for distinguished bravery. In such case, there was no 
ceremony except the accolade. 

137. The Christian Character of Knighthood is clearly shown in 
the ceremonies of the solemn knighting and the oath taken by the 
young nobleman. There were never wanting men who carried 
out their obligations most conscientiously. Thus chivalry ex- 
ercised a salutary effect upon the views of the higher classes 
chiefly by putting a high ideal, which at the same time did not 
lack solid foundation in reason and Faith, before the eye of 
the knight. Gallantry as long as it was based upon the vener- 
ation of the Lady of Ladies, the Virgin Mother of God, could 
not fail to produce at once nobleness of sentiment, purity of 
morals, and elegance of manner. We have already referred to 
similar effects of vassalage (§§ 120, 121). The man who stands 
forth most prominently as the ideal knight was St. Louis, 
King of France (1226-1270). 

Joinville, already quoted in § 120, gives us a vivid picture of this true 
nobleman. He had followed the king on a crusade and served for a 
time in his household on terms of mutual friendship. When ninety 
years old he dictated his recollections of the Saint. The personal re- 

1 The knighting of a squire must not be confounded with investiture 
(§ 118). The accolade transferred no fief or any kind of property. It 
made the young man a full-fledged noble, who was in no wise bound to him 
who had dubbed him knight. Investiture with a fief supposed knighthood. 



154 LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGE [§ 137 

lation of the two men lends a peculiar charm to these memoirs. Here 
follow some extracts from them. The book is dedicated to the king's 
great-grandson, then the heir to the throne. 

" And because I see no one who ought to have (the book) so rightly 
as you who are his heir, I send it to you, that you and your brothers and 
others who may hear it read, may take good example from it and put 
these examples in practice, that God may be pleased with you. . . . 
The King loved truth to such a degree that even with the Saracens he 
would not draw back from what he had promised. As to his palate he 
was so indifferent that never did I hear him ask for any particular dish, 
as many men do, but he ate contentedly of whatever was served up to 
him. He was measured in his speech. Never in my life did I hear him 
speak ill of any one ; nor did I ever hear him name the Devil, — a name 
widely spread in this realm (and it is a great disgrace to the kingdom of 
France, and to the king when he suffers it, that one can hardly speak 
without saying ' the Devil take it,' and it is a great sin to devote to the 
Devil a man given to God from the moment that he is baptized. In the 
Joinville household, whoso utters such a word receives a box on the 
ears or a slap on the mouth, and bad language is almost wholly sup- 
pressed) .... He asked me once whether I wished to be honored and 
to enter Paradise through death? Keep yourself then from doing or 
saying aught which, if all the world knew, you could not avow and 
say, ' I did this,' ' I said that.' He told me to refrain from contradicting 
anything said in my presence, providing there was no sin in remaining 
silent, because hard words engender strife. . . . He used to say that a 
man should so equip his person that the grey-beards of the day should 
not be able to say that it was over done ; nor the young men that there 
was anything wanting. After the king's return from over the sea, he 
lived so devoutly that he never wore furs of different colors, or scarlet 
cloth, or gilt stirrups or spurs. I was reminded of this by the father of 
the king who now reigns [Philip the Hardy] alluding once to the em- 
broidered coats of arms fashionable now-a-days. I made answer to 
him that never in the voyage over the sea did I see embroidered coats 
. . . and that he would have done better to have given the money to the 
poor and to have worn plain clothes as his father used to do." 

When looking a little more closely at these knightly sentiments 
we find that, after all, they are the obligations of every Christian, 
enjoined either by the Ten Commandments or by the law of 
Charity, and emphasized by the example of Jesus Christ and his 



§ 138] DRAWBACKS 155 

Saints. It was, of great importance that they were solemnly 
proclaimed as the knight's duties, — with that peculiar coloring 
which his station in life seemed to call for. His example was 
certainly wholesome for the lower classes. And when, in later 
times, wealth and with it the level of life rose among all 
classes, the more cultured manners of chivalry were eagerly 
copied, to the great benefit of society. 

138. Drawbacks. — Not every knight's breast harbored 
sentiments so lofty as those of St. Louis. Hideous crimes dis- 
figured the record of many a " noble " warrior who had per- 
formed great deeds of valor. The lawless " robber-knight " 
who made his living by preying upon the fortune of defenseless 
wayfarers was, however, chiefly the product of later centuries 
with completely altered social and economic conditions. The 
respect for women often degenerated into knight-errantry, an 
exaggerated and ridiculous cult of the female sex, of which the 
Spaniard Cervantes, in his famous Don Quixote, gives an 
amusing caricature. The whole system, too, by putting great 
privileges in the hands of the nobility was apt to lead to a con- 
tempt of the lower classes. Yet all this should not lead us to a 
wholesale condemnation of a system which was, at any rate, the 
best those times could devise, and which in itself was calculated 
to emphasize the practice of eminently Christian virtues. 

For Further Reading. — Excellent " source " material will be found 
in Pennsylvania Reprints, IV, No. 3 ; in Robinson's Readings, I, 170- 
196 ; and in Ogg's Source Book. The student should know Froissart 
(fourteenth century), — at least in Lanier's charming volume, The Boys' 
Froissart, — and Joinville's Memoir of St. Louis (thirteenth century). 

Historical fiction upon the feudal period is particularly valuable. 
Scott's novels, of course, must not be overlooked, particularly Ivanhoe, 
which treats of feudal England in the time of Richard I, although they 
give a false glamour to the age. Other excellent portraits are given 
in Robert Louis Stevenson's Black Arrow. Students may be called 
upon to find incidents in such literature illustrating various paragraphs in 
this chapter. 



156 LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGE [§ 138 

Exercise. — Explain the terms, — vassal, fief, commendation, hom- 
age, fealty, allod, etc. Let the class prepare lists of such terms for rapid 
and brief explanation, and select some thirty, from this volume so far, - 
for future reviews. Let the student determine which of the conditions 
leading to the establishment of Feudalism (§ 123) are economic in tjhar- 
acter, i.e. referring to property ; which are political, i.e. referring to gov- 
ernment ; and which are military. Let the same be determined as to 
the mutual obligations induced by Feudalism. 



CHAPTER VII 
THE CHURCH 

139. The Church a Bond of Unity. — We call this great period 
the age of religious unity. This is not to be taken in a merely 
temporal sense, as if the fact of such unity had nothing to do 
with the character of the time. The contrary is the case. The 
Church represented the unity of the world. Men felt that they 
were, first and foremost. Christians, and that each and every 
one, from the highest to the lowest, was a full-fledged member of 
a world-wide and organized community. They all professed 
themselves subject to one and the same authority, that of the 
pope and the hierarchy of the archbishops and bishops. All 
believed the same articles of faith. xVll had the right and duty 
to receive the same sacraments. The fact of this unity was 
emphasized in the sermons to which they listened. It was 
brought home to them by the visits of the bishop, — e.g. for 
the administration of the Sacrament of Confirmation, — and 
by the reading from the pulpit of his pastoral letters and 
ordinances.^ 

What little news found its way from other nations into the town 
served to confirm implicitly the living knowledge of this fact of 
universal unity. Even the enemy in war had to be treated as 
a fellow-Christian, or general reprobation would result. The 
same language, too, was used in all the Church services in all the 
various nations, with insignificant exceptions (§ 104). It was 
this employment of Latin by the Church that secured to the 
Roman tongue its place as the language of science and thus 

1 See Gasquet, Parish Life in Medieval England, Ch. 10. 

157 



158 THE CHURCH ' [§ 140 

helped bring about a further unity, namely that of literary and 
educational endeavor (§ 267). 

140. The Church and the Nations. — Nationalism, that is, the strong 
feeling of unity and independence among the members of one and the 
same nation, did not exist in the degree which it has attained in recent 
times. The kingdoms, on the one hand, were not sufficiently centralized 
on account of the prevalence of Feudalism (§ 125) which bound a man 
more expressly to his immediate lord than to the country at large. 
This, to some extent, checked, but did not prevent entirely, the growth 
of a sound national feeling, which was, moreover, favored by the 
development of national languages. Just during this period the national 
languages took on a more definite shape under the guiding influence 
of the Latin Uterature (§§ 66, 98). But on the other hand people 
thought more of their character as citizens of the great Christian 
commonwealth than of the bond of nationality. Let the student 
remember, too, what an immense debt of gratitude the individual 
nations owe to the Church for their very existence (§ 57, 69, 75, 100, 
102, 107, 108, 112). The bishop's ever remained the best advisers of 
the rulers. The Church inculcated obedience to rightful authority and 
stood forth, at times, as the only power capable of enforcing law and 
order (§§ 57, 127). 

141. The Ecclesiastical Authorities. — (1) The Pope was' 
held in great veneration. It was not until the fourteenth 
century that dissatisfied and revolutionary writers began to 
deny the infallibility of the Head of the Church concerning 
matters of faith and morals. The pope was assisted from very 
early times by the Cardinals, that is, those priests who were in 
charge of certain prominent Roman churches. The six bishops 
of the immediate surrounding of Rome were also called cardinals. 
For centuries the pope was elected by the clergy of Rome, the 
cardinals playing an important part in this momentous affair, 
while the people of Rome signified their adhesion to the choice 
by acclamation. We shall see how the papal election was 
reduced to a more definite form. 

Apart from large voluntary donations sent to Rome, or 
brought by the numberless pilgrims, the popes drew little revenue 



§ 142] THE ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITIES 159 

from foreign countries. England, however, had promised to 
pay a certain sum annually, the " Peter's Pence," which name 
is in our days given to any voluntary contribution toward 
the support of the Vicar of Christ. After the thirteenth 
century the popes on account of peculiar circumstances were 
forced to make a more extensive use of their right to tax the 
Church property of other countries. 

Written papal utterances are called either Bulls or Briefs. The word 
bull comes from the Latin bulla, which signifies the piece of sealing wax 
or lead or gold in which the seal was impressed. This by means of a 
thread was so attached to the document that it could not be removed 
without violating the seal. This was the approved mode of indorsing 
by seal any document, secular or sacred. .The designation of Bull was 
soon transferred from the seal to the document. Common use later 
restricted it to papal documents of great importance. Documents of 
a less important nature are called Briefs, from the Latin breve, short, 
though in size they are not necessarily shorter than the bulls. In om' 
days, when some particular point of doctrine seems to call for an 
authoritative and detailed statement, the popes often issue documents 
called Encyclicals. All the papal documents are known and quoted 
by the first several words, with which they happen to begin, as the bull 
" Gloriosae Dominae " concerning the sodalities of the B. V. Mary, or 
the Encyclical " Rerum Novanim " in which Pope Leo XIII unfolds 
the Catholic program of social activity. 

142. The Ecclesiastical Authorities. (2) The Bishops and 
Clergy ; Church Property. — Bishops and clergy were not sup- 
ported by collections as is the case in our country. The estab- 
lishment of a bishopric or parish required, in the mind of the 
people, the donation by the king or other rich landowner of as 
much property as would afford a revenue upon which the 
incumbent could live conformably with his social rank. In 
many cases this endowment was very liberal. The same was 
the case concerning monasteries (§61). Much of this property 
was allodial; but the bishops, and the abbots of the great 
monasteries, commonly held many feudal possessions (§ 125, 3). 
This made them the temporal rulers of certain districts and 



160 



THE CHURCH 



[§142 



placed them in a new relation to the sovereign. In Germany 
in particular the possessions of the Church were very large. 

The lawful way of appointing the bishops was by election. 
All the priests of the diocese who could be present at the occasion 




Durham Cathedral. — Norman style (§ 277). Begun in 1093. 



were permitted to participate. Naturally those of the episcopal 
city, and in particular those attached to the bishop's cathedral ^ 
enjoyed a greater prestige. Prominent seculars, above all 
royal officers, were also allowed some influence, and they some- 

i/.e. the church in which the bishop is wont to officiate and in which 
stands his pontifical cathedra or throne. 



§ 142] THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY 161 

times usurped rights which had been by no means granted. 
Soon the right of electing the bishop was restricted to the chief 
ecclesiastics of the cathedral, the " Canons of the Cathedral 
Chapter." ^ We shall see how the lay element was completely 
eliminated. 

The Clergy below the Bishops. — If we were transported back 
to a medieval town, the large number of clerics would certainly 
attract our attention. They appear on the streets in their long 
black cassocks. The monks, too, wear their habits in public 
wherever they go. 

Then, as now, the first step toward the priesthood was the 
tonsure, a ceremony in which the bishop cuts off some of the hair 
of the young levite, to signify that he must renounce the vanities 
of worldly life. Next he receives the four minor Orders, as 
ostiarius (doorkeeper), lector (reader), exorcist and acolyte 
(Mass server). Those only in minor Orders can at any time 
recede from the clergy and take up secular pursuits. The 
higher or major Orders are subdeaconship, deaconship, and 
priesthood. The number of persons who had received the 
minor Orders was much greater than now. Many of them did 
not intend to go any further. All the young men who wished 
to devote themselves to a life of study, and many who strove 
for posts like that of advisers of lords or other great men, would 
at least take minor Orders.^ Many of the positions in the 
administrative offices of the bishops were given to such men, or 
such as had been ordained deacons. In fact the number of 
deacons in a bishop's service was often very great. ^ 

^ The word canon means something permanent, unchangeable. In the 
Mass it denotes the part which does not vary with the feasts and holy 
seasons. In olden times all the priests permanently attached to any of the 
greater churches were called canons, and together they formed the Chapter. 

2 Hence the word clerk, and clerical labor, derived its present meaning, 
while the word cleric still denotes a member of the clergy. 

^ It must be observed that a young man does not become a member of the 
clergy by merely joining a religious Order, as the Benedictines or Cister- 



162 THE CHURCH [§ 143 

143. Clerical Privileges. — The clergy and the religious of 
both sexes enjoyed exemption from the ordinary courts. If they 
had transgressed, their cases came before special ecclesiastical 
tribunals. This privilege was based on the consideration that 
those who in the highest sense take the place of the King of 
Kings, should not be subject to the verdict of others, and that 
they would be freer in guiding and even rebuking laymen if 
they had not to fear that they might some day perhaps face the 
same men as their judges. Thus, too, the most educated and 
cultured class of society was brought before judges more intelli- 
gent than those of the secular courts, which had not yet divested 
themselves completely of the methods of barbarism. " The 
clerical judges were men of talent and education : the uniformity 
and equity of their decisions were preferred to the caprice and 
violence which seemed to sway the royal and baronial justi- 
ciaries." 

The ecclesiastical court could inflict all kinds of punishments, 
death alone excepted. As a matter of fact, the punishment of 
clerical offenders was often rather drastic. The severest was 
degradation. A degraded priest can, of course, not lose the very 
character of priesthood which remains indelibly imprinted in his 
soul. But he may no longer officiate in any capacity, nor draw 
the revenues of any ecclesiastical property nor enjoy any 
privilege granted to the clerical state. Degradation is the death 
penalty for the priest as priest. . In its strictest form it is carried 
out with stern and doleful ceremonies. 

The large possessions and privileges connected with eccle- 
siastical offices sometimes led light-minded men to embrace 
the clerical state not for the good that could be done in it but 
to obtain the means for an easy and carefree life. Influential 

cians. It is the reception of the minor or major Orders, by the hands of a 
bishop, that makes him a cleric. However, all the religious share in many 
of the privileges of the clergy. Note the different meanings of the word 
Order. 



§ 144] RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE PEOPLE 163 

nobles and princes, too, often contrived to provide for their 
sons by forcing them into well-endowed prelacies. Such men 
never were a blessing but often a curse for Church and State. 
On the other hand the clerical state offered for a long time the 
only chance for talented boys of the lower classes to rise above 
their condition. Many a bishop and abbot and pope was not 
ashamed to own his lowly extraction. 

144. Religious Life of the People. — The people lived with the 
Church. They knew the importance of the sacraments. Private 
prayer was extensively practiced both by the individual and in 
the families. The ecclesiastical year with its round of Sundays, 
Holydays and Sacred Seasons kept elevating ideas ever fresh in 
the minds of all. People loved to assist at the. divine services, 
and the daily hearing of Mass was a very common practice. 

The greatest natural blessing Christ bestowed on mankind is 
the elevation of matrimony to the dignity of a sacrament and 
the restoration of the indissolubility of marriage. This, 
together with the fundamental doctrine of the immortality of 
every human soul, elevated both the woman and the child and at 
the same time reestablished the rights and duties of parents.^ 
Christian home life flourished in the Ages of Faith. Parents 
were respected and loved, and the children were the treasures 
of the family. 

The rest from servile work on Sundays and the numerous 
holydays was of immense importance for the worker. These 
days were his days of recreation. And he was wise and Chris- 
tian enough not to consider the religious duties of his Sunday 
piety an impediment to his relaxation. They took his mind 
away from the drudgery of, his monotonous occupation during 
the week and filled him with elevating and consoling thoughts. ^ 

1 Read the beautiful essay on "The Book of a Medieval Mother" in Rt. 
Rev. Shahan's The Middle Ages, pp. 240 ff. 

2 Gasquet's Parish Life in Medieval England gives an admirable descrip- 
tion of the way in which the Church affected the life of the common people. 



164 



THE CHURCH 



[§145 



145. Liberality. — Charity was very widely practiced, not 
only by the monasteries (§ 60) but by the entire clergy and laity, 
high and low. Almsgiving was a daily exercise of piety with 
many. Pope Innocent III inaugurated the establishment of 
regular hospitals on a large scale. A similar open-handedness 
showed itself in the contributions for the building of churches. 
The rich gave their treasures, the poor their labor. Thus many 




Speyer Cathedral. — Romanesque style. Built 1030-1061. (See §277.) 

small towns were able to erect large and expensive temples, 
which are still the objects of our admiration. The jewels of 
the ladies were often sold for the benefit of the poor or were 
changed into sacred vessels, while the holy vestments of old 
churches still testify to the medieval lady's admirable skill in 
every kind of needlework. (See § 132.) 

146. Penance. — Sins were indeed committed, — grievous, 
sometimes enormous sins. But deep in the heart of the sinner 
there remained the Christian Faith in all its strength. Sooner 
or later, at least before his death, the sinner returned seriously 



§ 147] ECCLESIASTICAL PENALTIES 165 

and honestly to the God whom he had never denied, and if still 
possible made all the reparation imposed on him by the priest 
or bishop. The people much more than now realized the guilt 
of sin and were more ready to do penance for their trespasses. 
The confessors in the Sacrament of Penance and ecclesiastical 
authorities outside of it enjoined greater works of atonement 
than is now customary. The transition of knights and other 
persons of high rank from a worldly or less edifying life to one 
of constant penance was of rather frequent occurrence. St. 
Gerlach — see his life mentioned in the book list — thus became 
a hermit living in a primitive hut on his own large possessions. 
147, Ecclesiastical Penalties. — Very different from the 
penance imposed in the Sacrament of Confession upon a contrite 
and willing penitent are the ecclesiastical penalties inflicted 
upon the obstinate offender for certain great crimes. The 
greatest of these penalties is the excommunication, which cuts 
a man off entirely from the Communion of Saints. The ex- 
communicate has no share in the good works performed in the 
Christian world and cannot receive the sacraments. Ex- 
communication may be pronounced by the bishop or the pope. 
If it is inflicted publicly with the name of the guilty party 
mentioned, the latter may no longer hear Mass, nor is a priest 
allowed to say Mass while such a person is in the church. All 
the faithful are enjoined to avoid intercourse with him, unless 
they are excused by very grave reasons. In the Ages of Faith 
it was generally considered evident that an excommunicated 
man was unfit to rule over a Christian country. 

Seeing the great care with which the Church proceeds before the 
infliction of penalties, it is unlikely that innocent persons are to suffer 
by excommunication. Should this happen, however, and the Church 
is not infallible in this matter, the excommunication would be invalid 
before God. But even so it must be conscientiously observed to avoid 
scandal and grave disorder. The question whether or not an excom- 
municated person is in the state of mortal sin is finally to be answered 
by the confessor in the Sacrament of Penance. 



166 THE CHURCH [§ 148 

The interdict, as far as this notion concerns us here, does not 
affect the people directly. It does not exclude any one from the 
Communion of Saints. But it prohibits the administration of 
sacraments and blessings within a specified territory. It has 
been inflicted to punish a nation or city for its notorious dis- 
obedience or other crimes, and also to force some headstrong 
ruler to yield at least to the entreaties of his people.^ 

When pronouncing the interdict on France, in 1200, for the immo- 
rality of King Philip Augustus, Innocent III said in part : " Let all 
the churches be closed ; let no one be admitted except to baptize 
infants, or when the priest shall come for the Eucharist and Holy 
Water for the use of the sick. We permit Mass to be said once a week, 
on Friday, to consecrate Hosts for the Viaticum, but one server only 
is to be admitted. Let the clergy preach on Sundays in the vestibules 
of the churches. Let them not permit the dead to be interred {i.e. 
with the ceremonies of the Church), nor their bodies to be placed un- 
buried in the cemeteries. Let them not bless the wallets of the pil- 
grims except outside the churches." ^ This interdict, though im- 
perfectly observed, produced the desired effect. The voice of the people 
became so loud that the king had to give up his wicked life. 

148. The veneration for the Saints and their relics was a 
characteristic of the times. It came very natural to the me- 
dieval mind that he who loves God must needs love those who 
love Him. Each region and town had its special patron. The 
places where the remains of Saints reposed were the goal of 
pilgrimages, which the faithful undertook, to atone for sins, to 
obtain favors, to return thanks for benefits received. The 
Christian countries were dotted with such shrines. The 
pilgrims went singly or in groups or in organized processions. 
Before setting out they received " the pilgrims' blessing " 
in the church. In many places they found hospices ready to 
shelter and care for them. Kings and other prominent persons 
often established such houses for the pilgrims of their nationality. 
Thus Irish hospices were spread over the whole continent. 

,1 See Guggenberger, I, § 539. ^ Ogg, Source Book, p. 382. 



§ 149] THE MONASTERIES AND THEIR INMATES 167 

The Middle Ages, though great in some branches of knowledge 
(§ 266 ff.)> had not much of a critical spirit. With childlike simplicity 
they accepted what was told them, especially when it seemed to redound 
to the honor of some Saint. In many cases these stories showed more 
what the people, thought of the Saint than what had really happened. 
" Fake " relics also found veneration, though never against the better 
knowledge of the heads of the Church. Nor is the number of false 
relics nearly so great as some writers would have us believe. The 




York Cathedral. — Gothic style (§ 278). Built in its present shape, diir- 
ing the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Considered the finest ec- 
clesiastical building in England. 

Church takes every possible care to make such pious frauds impossible. 
No relic may be publicly venerated without the approval of the bishop. 
Finally, the veneration is, as Pope Pius X points out in his Encyclical 
against Modernism, by its very nature conditional, that is, it is ren- 
dered on the understood supposition that the relic is genuine. 

149. The monasteries and their inmates are an essential 
feature of medieval life. It was an age of religious enthusiasm. 
Many were not satisfied with the fulfilling of the common duties 
of Christians. They desired to show more generosity to their 
God and to serve Him more exclusively, or to do more penance 



168 THE CHURCH [§ 150 

for their sins and the sins of the world (§ 60). Hence the monas- 
teries never lacked recruits ("novices"). Men and women 
of all ranks, royal personages included, entered the convents 
and bound themselves by the three vows to another kind of 
spiritual freedom. The monasteries rose on hilltops, in secluded 
valleys, or in and near towns. Their midnight bells roused their 
thousands of inmates from slumber to sing, in the stillness of 
the night, the praises of their Creator. Their daily work was 
again interrupted by the hours of prayer, while the very life, 
as regulated by the Rule, meant a constant victory over the 
cravings of nature. A peculiar dress distinguished the monks 
from the rest of the people. Commonly it was the attire worn 
by the poorer classes at the time when the Order was founded. 

The convents were constantly increasing in number. Rich 
persons would endow such houses of prayer in thanksgiving for 
divine favors, or as a memorial for their deceased relatives, or 
with the intention that their own souls after death be remem- 
bered by the inmates. Abbey churches were the resting places 
of the dead of many a princely family. 

The monks and nuns continued to be educators. It was a 
very common custom that the daughters of the higher classes 
should receive their schooling in the retirement of a convent. 
By educating these girls, says a Protestant historian, the nuns 
did more for the development of genuine womanhood than all 
the rules of etiquette and the chivalry of the knights and all the 
effusions of the troubadours and minnesingers could have 
achieved. 

150. New Religious Orders. — (a) In the course of time certain 
features of religious life were emphasized more explicitly in the founda- 
tion of new Orders. A Burgundian nobleman founded the Order of the 
Cistercians, which devoted itself to the practice of a rigorous penance. 
It became famous chiefly through St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the 
preacher of the second Crusade and one of the greatest men of the 
twelfth century. The Carthusians, founded by St. Bruno of Cologne, 



§ 1501 NEW RELIGIOUS ORDERS 169 

combined the life in a community with the eremitical or hermit life. 
The members dwell in separate cells clustered around a court, observe 
the strictest silence and assemble only for meals and for services in the 
church. Once a week the silence is relaxed for a few hours of recreation. 
St. Norbert wrote the Rule of the Premonstratensians in whom he 
aimed to unite monastic sanctity with the work of the secular clergy. 
The Cistercians and Premonstratensians were the chief instrument of 
the Church for the Christianization and civilization of the now German 
countries east of the Elbe. All these Orders had adopted the principle 
of centralization, that is, their several houses were under one general 
superior. 

This principle had been tried in an earlier period. In the course 
of time the possessions of the monasteries had increased very much, 
partly through the incessant labor of the monks, partly by the general 
appreciation of all property in value, partly through the donations of 
benefactors (§ 119). This occasionally led to a loss of the primitive 
spirit. Interference of the secular power with the right of the monks 
to elect their own abbot often had the same sad effect. One of the 
successful efforts to restore the first fervor was the Congregation of 
Cluny established in a.d. 910. It consisted of a number of Benedictine 
monasteries united under the '' mother-abbey " of Cluny, a convent in 
Northern Burgundy. The monks took their vow of obedience not to 
the head of their own house but to the Abbot of Cluny. The latter 
had full power to examine into the conditions of each abbey and to set 
things right if inecessary. This Congregation, which is much older than 
the above-mentioned new Orders, exercised a widespread influence on 
the monastic houses and on the reform of the Church at large. At 
one time it counted about two thousand abbeys in all the countries of 
Christendom. Similar Congregations were formed by other Benedictine 
institutions, though they did not give up their identity in the same 
degree. In the eleventh century there began a new influx of Irish monks 
into Germany. They were hospitably received and endowed with large 
properties. This is the origin of the Congregation of the so-called 
Scotch Convents (§§ 45, 62) which for some time recruited themselves 
from. Ireland. 

(6) Who Establishes Religious Orders ? — Divine Providence com- 
monly inspires some private person with the desire of originating a 
new monastic organization for a certain purpose, showing him more 
or less definitely what kind of life its members should lead. The 
person will then gather others around him who are filled with the same 
spirit, and in a private way they will begin to live like rehgious and 



170 



THE CHURCH 



[§150 



practice the principles they lay down for themselves. So far there is 
no real religious Order. They will have to apply to the ecclesiastical 
authorities, ultimately to the pope. What is commonly called the 
approbation of an Order is in reality its foundation. The pope is the 
supreme superior of all existing religious Orders, and the one to whom 
the vow of obedience is made in the last instance. Religious Orders 
are not private pious cliques hut an integral part of the organization of 
the Church. The pope's ruling power is the source from which all their 
rules and constitutions draw their binding force. In the case of the 
oldest Orders the approbation was often given by way of fact, that is 
by not opposing but praising it, rather than by express words in the 
shape of official documents. 



SECTION III. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF 
EUROPE TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES 

CHAPTER VIII 



ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES 

A. The Last Saxon Kings 

151. Part of a Danish Empire. — In § 116 we left England 
united under Edgar the Peaceful (959-975). In the long fight 
against the Norse invader, 
under the great Alfred and 
his sons and grandsons, 
Angle, Saxon, Northum- 
brian, and Mercian had 
learned to look upon 
themselves as Englishmen, 
— citizens of one country. 
The many Teutonic states 
in Britain had at last 




Anglo-Saxon Plowing. — From an An- 
glo-Saxon manuscript in the British 
Museum, London. 



been fused into a true 
"England," — though bit- 
ter feuds did sometimes still break forth between Englishmen 
of the north and Englishmen of the south. 

During the first years of the next century the ruler was a 
weak man, Ethelred the Redeless ; ^ and the island was con- 
quered by Swegn, king of Denmark, and his son Knut. This 
Danish attack was wholly unlike the invasions in the time of 

^Ethelred means, "noble counsel." This nickname meant "the man 
without counsel." 

171 



172 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 152 

Alfred. Denmark had now become a Christian kingdom ; and 
Knut, who was master also of much of Norway, made England 
part of a great Scandinavian empire (1016-1035). 

At the same time he showed himself an English king in 
feeling. He lived mainly in England, and dismissing his 
Danish army, he rested his power upon the good government 




Empire of 

KNUT THE GREAT 

1014-1035 



he gave to the realm. While in Rome on a pilgrimage, he 
wrote a noble letter to his English subjects : ''I have vowed 
... to rule justly and piously. If I heretofore have done 
anything unjustly, through the headiness or carelessness of 
youth, I am ready, with God's help, to amend it utterly." 

152. Edward the Confessor. First Norman Influence. — 
Knut the Great was succeeded by his sons, who proved very 



§ 153] THE NORMAN CONQUEST 173 

unlike him in morals and ability. Aft'er seven years the northern 
empire was broken up entirely. The Witan^ of England restored 
the Saxon line by electing Edward,^ son of Ethelred and a 
Norman princess. Much of his life had been spent in Nor- 
mandy. Save a war with Scotland his reign was free from 
foreign complications. He strove to promote the welfare of his 
people by a strict administration of justice, the abolition of 
heavy taxes, and an open-handed generosity to the poor. He 
encouraged the spread in England of the reformatory ideas of 
Cluny (§ 150). For this purpose he promoted Norman clerics 
to important English bishoprics and abbeys (§102 (3)). Nor- 
mans were employed, too, in minor administrative positions. 
Thus an immigration of Normans began under his reign. This, 
as well as the fact that not all his appointees justified the con- 
fidence placed in them, was a pretext of much trouble and of 
open rebellion. Edward lacked the necessary firmness to 
suppress these disturbances. Still in spite of his weakness the 
people long after clamored for the ''laws and customs of good 
king Edward." 

153. The Norman Conquest. — Edward the Confessor left 
no son. The English Witan chose Harold, the most powerful 
of the Saxon noblemen, though not of royal descent, for their 
king. He was said to have been recommended by Edward. 
But William, Duke of Normandy, claimed the throne on the 
ground of distant relationship and of a promise from Edward, 
and because Harold on some former occasion had taken an oath 

1 The "Folk-moot," that is, the meeting of all the free men, survived in 
local government only. (See §§ 155-157.) The Witan or Witenagemot 
was an assembly of the "wise men" of the kingdom, namely, the great 
lords and ecclesiastics. The later "Great Council" practically consisted of 
the same men (§ 183). 

2 This St. Edward is called "The Confessor" to distinguish him from his 
uncle, St. Edward the Martyr. Those saints who have not shed their blood 
for Christ are given the title " Confessor," which in this case has nothing to do 
with the sacrament of confession. (See also Catholic Encyclopedia under 
"Confessor.") 



174 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 153 




of fealty to him. He had'moreover convinced the pope that he 
would be a better champion of ecclesiastical discipline than 
Harold, whose past did not seem to guarantee much zeal for the 
true welfare of the Church. William now prepared to make his 
claim good by arms. 

" Harold, the Last of the Saxons," is however a gallant 
figure, whose tragic reign of forty weeks and one day adds a 

touching interest to the 
close of Saxon kingship. 
He was threatened from 
two sides. His own brother, 
Tostig, Earl of Northum- 
brian had been driven into 
exile by a popular rising. 
Harold refused to restore 
him. So Tostig stirred up 
Harold Hardrada, the ad- 
venturous king of Norway 
and one of the most ro- 
mantic heroes in history, 
to attack England on the 
west, while William of 
Normandy prepared to invade from the south. 

The Norwegian host, a fleet of three hundred ships, landed 
first, on the coast of Yorkshire. Harold was in the South, to 
meet the even more formidable force from across the Channel. 
Hurrying northward with his trusted household troops, English 
Harold overthrew and slew Norwegian Harold, in a desperate 
and brilliant battle at Stamford Bridge. 

But meantime William had made his landing on the south 
coast near Hastings. Back hastened Harold, by forced marches, 
with his exhausted and depleted troops. The jealous nobles 
of the old Danelaw held aloof. Only the knights and husband- 
men of Kent and Wessex rallied nobly to his banner. By a 



A Norman Ship. — From the Bayeux Tap- 
estry. The Bayeux Tapestry is a linen 
band 230 feet long and 29 inches wide, 
embroidered in colored worsteds, with 72 
scenes illustrating the Norman Con- 
quest. It was a contemporary work. 
(See § 132.) The banner is supposed to 

• be the one blessed by the pope. 



§153] 



THE NORMAN CONQUEST 



175 



stratagem he forced William to an attack, which brought on the 
battle of Hastings or Senlac, one of the world's decisive strug- 
gles. It gave a complete victory to William the Conqueror. 

All day long the battle raged between two civilizations. The English 
strength lay in the mailclad familj'^ guards of the King. They wielded 
huge battle axes, and fought on foot, shoulder to shoulder, the King 
amorg them, behind a wall of overlapping long shields. This was a 




Battle of Hastuvtgs. — From the Bayeux Tapestry. 



splendid force to resist attack. The Norman strength lay in their mounted 
knights and men-at-armsj assisted by bowmen, — magnificent troops 
to make an onset. 

Charge after charge of Norman horse failed to break the Saxon 
shield-wall. William's furious valor and personal strength, which had 
aheady won him fame on many a bloody field as the most terrible 
knight in Christendom, showed as never before, mingled with cool 
generalship a*nd quick resourcefulness. Three times a horse was killed 
under him. Once his troops broke, and the cry went up, — '' The Duke 
is slain." William tore off his helmet, to show his face, shouting with 
mighty voice, — " 1 live; and by God's help I shall conquer ! ". And 
a blow from his mace struck down one of Harold's brothers at the foot 
of the English standard, the " Goldan Dragon of Wessex." 

Finally, at three in the afternoon, by feigning flight, William drew 



176 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 154 

part of the English troops from their impregnable position, in spite of 
Harold's orders, and then turning upon their disordered ranks, he rode 
them down in masses. Still the household troops stood firm about the 
King, and at six the fight swayed back and forth as stubbornly as ever 
about the Dragon standard. But the Duke brought his archers to 
the front, to pour their deadly shafts into the massed English array ; 
and, as the sun went down, an arrow pierced Harold's eye. The 
combat closed, in the gathering dusk, with the slaughter of his followers 
over his corpse. William was left master of the kingdom. 

The Norman conquest was one of the chief turning points in English 
(and American) history. Never since has a conquering people estab- 
lished itself in England. Briton, Roman, Saxon, Dane, had held the 
island in turn. Each had brought his peculiar contribution to its devel- 
opment. Now the Normans had conquered, because they were better 
equipped for warfare than the old English, and better disciplined. 
This same superiority they were to show in government. 

B. The Norman Influence 

154. The Normans found some institutions in Saxon England 
which had lasting influence on English and American life. — 

(1) Anglo-Saxon local divisions. — These local divisions were of 
three orders, — shires, hundreds, and townships. 

As Wessex had extended her sway over the island (§ 105), 
the smaller tribal kingdoms (Kent, Essex, and so on) had sunk 
into shires, and in the end all England came to be divided 
into about forty such units. Each had its shire-reeve (sheriff). 
In the Saxon period this officer, appointed by the king, had 
little power; but under the Norman kings he became much 
more important. 

Before the tribal kingdoms sank into shires, they had pos- 
sessed their own local subdivisions. These, or others formed 
in imitation of them, remained as subdivisions of the shires, 
and were known as hundreds (a name that survives for local 
divisions in Maryland and Delaware). 

Each hundred was made up of townships, or villages. The 
chief village of each shire had usually grown into a fortified 



§155] 



INSTITUTIONS IN SAXON ENGLAND 



177 



" borough," a trading town, with some special privileges 
granted by the kings. Trade had raised some other villages 
into boroughs. 

155. (2) Anglo-Saxon Local Government. — The ordinary 
township had come to have little self-government. Such powers 
as it had once possessed had passed mainly into the hands of 
some neighboring noble, 
to whom the village was 
coming to stand much 
like a " manor " on the 
continent. Boroughs had 
greater privileges. They 
were practically com- 
pressed hundreds so far 
as government was con- 
cerned. 

The hundred was the 
busiest unit for carrying on 
government. It did its 
work in a " court " which 
met once a month. The 
hundred court was made 
up of the landlords, or 
their stewards, and the 
"reeve" (headman), 
priest, and " four best 
men," of each village. The sheriff of the shire, or more com- 
monly one of his subordinates, and some representative of the 
bishop, presided. The court dealt with a great variety of mat- 
ters. In particular, it settled disputes about land and other 
property, and tried criminal cases. 

There was also a shire court, which met twice a year. This body 
was composed much as the courts of the various hundreds were. 
It tried appeals from the hundred courts, and decided many 




Statue of William the Conqueror at 
Falaise, his birthplace. 



178 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 156 

matters of local government.^ It teas in these self-governing courts 
of the shire and hundred that the old Teutonic freedom best survived. 

156. (3) Anglo-Saxon Feudalism. — Neither feudalism nor serf- 
dom had developed in Saxon England in any such degree as on 
the continent. Still, even the larger units (shire and hundred), as 
well as the little townships, were coming under the influence of 
local nobles. Sometimes a lord secured from the king the right 
to hold a private court alongside the people's court of the hun- 
dred. Moreover, the freemen of the villages had been sinking 
in condition. After Alfred's time, it became necessary for 
6ach free villager to attach hirnself to some lord. At first, the 
purpose was merely to hold the lord responsible for the vil- 
lager's obedience to the laws ; but, in return for his responsi- 
bility, the lord began to exact small payments of various sorts 
from the villagers, and that class had begun to pass into the 
condition of villeins on the continent. This last change was 
greatly hastened by the Norman conquest. 

157. The Norman Innovations. — (1) Centralization. — The 
Normans did not meddle much with the local institutions they 
found. Their genius for organization did build up a n^ore 
effective central government, as we shall see shortly, and they 
checked certain weaknesses of the old local organization. 
There had been no good machinery to secure uniformity of 
government and custom in the different shires, or to compel 
obedience to the national laws. The Normans increased the 
authority of the sheriff, the king's especial representative, so 
as to meet these needs. 

158. (2) English Feudalism after the Conquest. — Feudalism 
was already fully developed in Normandy. William introduced 
it into England as a complete system, but with certain changes 
which freed it from the worst evils. 

1 Students should note that "court" in medieval history has a more 
extended meaning than in recent times. A "court" was concerned with 
any or all matters of government, — • not merely with judicial business. 



§ 158] THE NORMAN INNOVATIONS 179 

He first confiscated all the land of the kingdom, with legal 
formalities, on the ground that the landowners had forfeited 
their holdings as traitors, — since they had not willingly rec- 
ognized him as king. Much of this land, especially that of 
Englishmen who had fallen in battle against him, went as 
royal fiefs to his followers. But most of it he granted back to 
the old holders who now became his own vassals. But he 
restricted greatly the power of all lords over their vassals and 
took care to render difficult any opposition of great feudatories 
against the crown. 

Following are the principal checks put on English feudalism: 

(a) The properties held by the great lords were scattered in 
different counties (shires). Thus each piece really became a 
surety for the lord's fidelity ; and a great vassal could not easily 
gather his forces for any treasonable attack.^ 

(6) The chief authority in a shire was now exercised, not by an 
hereditary nobleman but by the sheriff appointed by the king 
(§ 156). 

(c) William preserved the old national militia of shire and 
hundred, putting it under the command of the royal sheriffs. 
Thus the king was not wholly dependent upon the feudal levies. 
He even had a force to confront disloyal nobles. 

(d) All the landowners of England, though most of them 
were some other lord's vassals, were now required to take an 
oath of fealty directly to the king, so that henceforth no 
Englishman could participate in any struggle against the crown 
without becoming guilty of treason (§ 125, 1).^ 

1 This fortunate arrangement came about probably not so much from 
design as from the fact that William really became master of the country 
only by degrees, and so had to reward his followers a little at a time. 

- These changes in the feudal system made the king the sole real owner of 
English soil. There was now no more allodial property in England (§ 119). 
Even at present, in theory, all the English landowners are tenants of the 
crown ; and their number is relatively very small, entire villages being owned 
by one individual. 



180 ENGLAND TQ THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 159 

159. (3) The Church in Norman England. In spite of the 
zeal of Edward the Confessor the Church was still suffering 
from the anarchy of prior reigns, and a number of ecclesiastics 
were unworthy of their positions. William put able Normans 
into their places. The See of Canterbury, the first of the 
country, which for nineteen years had been held by the illiterate 
and immoral Stigand, obtained one of its greatest archbishops 
in the person of the Norman monk Lanfranc. Thus the reli- 
gious and literary life of the island came into a more lively con- 
tact with that of the continent. The Reform of Cluny (§§ 150 ; 
102, 3) began to spread vigorously. To comply fully with the 
demands of the Canon Law (§ 143) separate ecclesiastical courts 
were established. William retained, however, the decisive 
influence upon the appointment of all prelates, and placed some 
restrictions on the exercise of episcopal jurisdiction. And 
though the active connection with Rome received great en- 
couragement from him, he refused to give up the practice of 
investing bishops in the manner prohibited by Pope Gregory 
VII (§ 225). Taken all in all, the action of the Normans 
on the life of the Church of England redounded greatly to its 
advantage. '' The Normans," says even a partisan of Harold, 
" revived the observances of religion which were everywhere 
grown lifeless. You might see churches rise in every village 
and monasteries in the towns and cities built after a style 
unknown before." 

160. (4) General results. Until 1066 England had counted for 
little in the life of Europe. Its political relations were chiefly 
with the Scandinavian countries in the North. At home, since 
the days of Alfred the Great (§ 114) the two chief dangers had 
been the growth of feudal anarchy and the splitting apart of 
Danish England and Saxon England. 

Now not only was there a lively religious and literary inter- 
course with the continent; but England's union, for several 



§ 162] WILLIAM I, THE CONQUEROR 181 

generations (see § 163), with Normandy turned its policy towards 
the great European nations.^ 

Within the island, North and South were so strongly united 
that the two parts never again dreamed of separation, and 
a strong central government arose. The kings were now strong 
enough to keep down feudal tyrants, but not quite strong enough 
to become royal tyrants themselves. Dread of royal power was 
one of the causes which drew Saxons and Norman immigrants 
together.^ They became fused into an English nation, which 
in centuries of slow, quiet, determined progress, won constitu- 
tional liberty. To the old spirit of Saxon freedom, the Normav,s 
added a new genius for organization . The local institutions to a 
considerable degree remained Saxon, but the central government 
owed its efficiency to Norman influences. England was the first 
country in the world to work out for a large territory the union 
of a strong central government and of free institutions. 

161. The conquest also brought in new blood, a higher culture, 
and new elements in language. Norman lords and clergy, and 
likewise Norman merchants and artisans, flocked into England. 
All these people spoke their own Norman-French tongue, and 
for a time only the lowest classes spoke English. Gradually, 
the English gained its place as the language of the whole people ; 
but meantime it lost its more complicated grammatical forms 
and was enriched by a multitude of Norman words. 

C. The Four Norman Kings 

162. William I, the Conqueror (1066-1087), was king by right 
of the sword ; but he went through the form of an election by 



1 For some generations the rulers of England remained dukes of Nor- 
mandy, and so great vassals of the French crown. 

2 The sharp distinction between the Norman and the Saxon had disap- 
peared before the close of the Norman reigns (§ 165). Scott's Ivanhoe pic- 
tures a state of affairs in this respect which had passed away at least two 
generations before the time dealt with in the story. 



182 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 163 

an English Witan, and he ruled with much regard for English 
custom. Someof his chief work has been described. Among his 
other wise deeds was the taking of a great census to find out the 
resources of the kingdom and the dues payable to the king. 
This survey is recorded in Domesday Book, which gives us more 
exact knowledge about England than we have of any other 
country in that century. The population numbered some 
1,200,000. One tenth oi these are called '* burgesses " (in- 
habitants of " boroughs "), though half of them dwelt in what 
we should call mere villages. The king's feudal army contained 
about 5000 knights (not 60,000, as some old English historians 
understood and taught). 

William I, the Conqueror, stamped himself on the world's 
history, making it a far different thing from what it would 
have been without him. In his makeup there mingled strangely 
the wild passions of his barbaric Norse ancestors and the cool 
caution and shrewdness of a modern statesman. His person was 
gigantic, his strength enormous, his will knew no pity, and his 
outbursts of anger made his closest counselors tremble. " Great 
awe men had of him," says the English chronicler of the period, 
'^[he was] so harsh and cruel, that no man dared withstand his 
will." But the same conquered English writer fails not to 
praise the " good peace " William's stern pitilessness made, 
" so that a man might fare over his realm with a bosom full of 
gold." 

163. William II and Henry I. — William, by will, left Nor- 
mandy to his eldest son Robert, and England to his second 
son William Rufus (the Red). This prince (1087-1100), too, 
to strengthen his claim, procured an election from the English 
Assembly. (See § 152, note.) '' In his days all justice sank, 
and all unrighteousness arose." He was finally killed mys- 
teriously and interred without the ceremonies of the Church. 

Henry I (1100-1135), the youngest son of the Conqueror, also 
obtained an election. He issued a Charter of Liberties, which 



§165] STEPHEN 183 

a hundred years later was to become the model for a much more 
important document. By force and intrigues he wrested Nor- 
mandy from his good-natured brother, Duke Robert, and ac- 
quired the County of Maine in France. From his (if not from 
earlier) times dates the ''King's Court,'' composed of a few able 
men, to supervise the finances, and also to serve as a supreme 
court of justice. From time to time Henry I sent members of 
this Royal Court into distant parts of the realm to look after 
his interests and administer justice in his name. The people 
gave to Henry I the honorable title of " Lion of Justice," though 
he ruled much like an absolute monarch.^ 

Under William II and Henry I the " Contest about Lay- 
Investiture " was fought out in England (§ 230). 

164. Stephen. — After Henry I's death his nephew Stephen 
secured the election. He was weak by nature, and his reign 
was distracted by civil wars with the supporters of Henry's 
daughter Matilda. Feudal anarchy seemed to have at last 
seized upon the land. The contemporary chroniclers bewail 
the misery of the age with bitter phrases : 

" Every powerful man made his castles, and when they were built 
they filled them with devils and evil men ; they put men in their dun- 
geons for their gold and silver, and tortured them with pains unspeak- 
able . . . and it was commonly said that Christ and his saints slept." 

165. The four Norman reigns may be summed up briefly thus: 
William I, conquest, consolidation, provision against feudal dis- 
integration ; William II, tyranny ; Henry I, a charter, and beginnings 
of judicial organization ; Stephen, anarcljy and civil war. 

Observe that the three successors of William I all had rivals for the 
throne, and so were kept in some measure in dependence upon the 
nation. 

Special Reports. — The Domesday Book; a fuller story of the 
Norman Conquest, with the harrying of the North ; the making of the 
New Forest. 

1 On the Conquest and the Conqueror see Guggenberger, I, §§ 357-372, 
400-^10. 



184 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 166 

D. The Plantagenet Kings 

166. Henry II, 1154-1189. — Matilda had married Geoffrey, 
Count of Anjou, a province of France. Geoffrey commonly 
wore in his cap a sprig of the broom plant (planta genesta), and 
this pleasing habit gave to his family the surname, Plantagenet. 

At twenty, Henry, the son of this marriage, had landed in 
England, to make good his claim to the throne against Stephen. 
But Theobald, the aged Archbishop of Canterbury, brought the 
rivals to terms. By the treaty of Wallingford it was agreed 
that Stephen should keep the crown during his life, but that he 
should recognize Henry as his heir. This bargain was kept. 
Stephen died the same year, and Henry II quietly succeeded. 

Henry's stout body and broad shoulders rose from bowed 
legs, and were topped by a bull neck and a round head with 
fiery face and bulging eyes. He wore his hair cropped close, 
among the long-haired nobles o'f the court, and was careless in 
dress, rough and hurried in manner, and exceedingly sparing in 
food and drink. He had a memory that forgot no detail of 
business, a strong will that held steadfastly to his plans, and 
great physical strength which enabled him to keep tirelessly 
at his task while servants and attendants dropped with fatigue. 
He delighted in the conversation of the learned. Yet he was 
grossly immoral, liable to descend to the basest artifices if they 
furthered his ends, and exceedingly jealous of every kind of 
authority which did not come from himself and was not sub- 
servient to his will. When roused by opposition he would rave 
like a madman. 

167. Henry II was one of the most powerful rulers in 
Europe. — England was only a part of his territories. Through 
his mother he was Duke of Normandy and Count of Maine; 
through his father. Count of Anjou and Touraine. A shadowy 
claim upon Brittany he converted into real overlordship. By 
marriage he had obtained Aquitaine, which then included 



§ 168] HENRY II AND FEUDAL DISORDER 185 

Poitou and Gascony. Thus he ruled more than half of what is 
now France — and six times as much French territory as was then 
held directly by the French king. 

True, Henry II held these French provinces, in name, as a 
vassal of the king of France. In fact, he thought of himself 
chiefly as a French prince with important possessions in the 
neighboring island. So, too, others thought of him in that day. 
Out of his thirty-five years of kingship, only about a third were 
spent in England; and these, a few months at a time. None 
the less, he proved one of the greatest, and, in spite of his egre- 
gious blunders, one of the most beneficent of all the English 
kings. 

Before his death, Henry had stiU other possessions. He began the 
English conquest of Ireland. (See § 171.) For a time, he held Scotland 
in imperfect subjection, her king his imprisoned vassal. And the con- 
quest of Wales went on slowly but steadily* as in every strong English 
reign. 

168. Henry II and Feudal Disorder. — The first task of the 
new king was to restore order. During the long civil wars, 
both sides had brought swarms of foreign mercenaries into 
England. These bands paid themselves by plundering the 
country, and they were still ravaging at will. Henry drove 
them out or hunted them down. Then the new castles which 
had risen in Stephen's time, and which had so often become 
strongholds for the oppression of the people, were demolished. 
Henry called the " Great Council " more frequently in order to 
interest the nobility in the government and welfare of the 
country. 

Henry II took two measures to decrease permanently the mili- 
tary importance of the feudal lords. (1) A law known as the Assize 
of Arms again revived the old militia (§ 158, c). Those who held 
land of their own were to be arrayed in coat of mail and helmet, 
and armed with lance and shield; poorer men must have at 



186 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 169 

least helmet and lance. All had to hold themselves always ready 
for service at the summons of the royal sheriffs. 

(2) The subvassals (knights) of the great lords were excused 
from military service, on condition of a money payment to the 
king. With this fund, called scutage (shield money), the king 
could hire trained professional soldiers, more reliable and effec- 
tive than the unwieldy feudal armies (§ 122, 1). Thus the king 
became more independent of the great nobles, and these in turn 
were no longer obliged to furnish their feudal levies. The 
knights, too, turned their attention in part away from fighting, 
and became interested in farming their lands and especially in the 
business of the shire courts, — so that they were soon spoken of 
as " knights of the shire." 

169. Henry H and the Church. (I.) The Constitutions of 
Clarendon. — Henry II could brook no power that did not 
emanate from himself.. The independence and privileges of 
the clergy were a thorn in his side. He intended to secure once 
for all the so-called " rights " which his predecessors, contrary to 
Canon Law and in spite of the protest of Church authorities, 
had at various times usurped and which were styled " the 
royal customs." He made his chancellor, Thomas a Becket, 
Archbishop of Canterbury and thereby Primate of England. 
Thomas had been the king's trusted friend and adviser, and a 
gay companion at the banquet table and in the hunt. But with 
his consecration as archbishop he became a changed man — 
he became St. Thomas. He rigidly removed all luxury, wore a 
hairshirt next his body at all times, and observed most con- 
scientiously the rules which regulate a bishop's life. The king, 
to his utter surprise, found in him a fearless champion of the 
rights of the Church. 

A cleric had committed an offense against the king, and Henry 
II thought that no condign punishment had been given in the 
ecclesiastical court. In his wrath he now resolved to put the 
relation between Church and State upon an entirely new basis. 



§ 170] THE OPPOSITION OF ST. THOMAS 187 

A Great Council was called and the king laid before it the 
Constitutions of Clarendon, in which were embodied what pur- 
ported to be the " royal customs." The Council was to declare 
them the law of the land. 

The chief points were these : (a) The revenues of bishoprics, 
abbeys, etc., were to go to the king from the death of the in- 
cumbent until the election of his successor. (6) The election 
was to take place in the king's chapel, with the advisers ap- 
pointed by the king, and not before the king himself had 
summoned the electors, (c) The royal courts were to define 
whether a criminal case belonged to the secular or ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction ; and if found guilty in the Church court, the 
criminal was to be tried over in the secular court. ^ (d) No di- 
rect vassal of the king or any of his household officers should 
be excommunicated without the king's permission, (e) No 
bishop or archbishop should go beyond the sea without the 
king's permission (to prevent complaints being made about the 
king in Rome). (/) Appeals from English courts to the pope, 
too, required the royal permission. (This point the king later 
explained to have reference to civil causes only.) 

It is evident that with the enactment of such laws the Church 
in England would be completely at the king's mercy, though 
the possibility that he might give the desired permissions still 
kept it from an accomplished schism. The ** royal customs " 
certainly made the sovereign the chief regent of the Church 
instead of those whom the Holy Ghost appointed to rule it. 

170. (II.) The Opposition of St. Thomas. — In the Assembly 
the bishops naturally shrank from consenting to such enslave- 
ment. Henry in great rage had the door of the next apartment 
thrown open. There they beheld a body of knights with drawn 
swords, waiting for the signal to massacre the prelates. To avert 

1 This was greatly to the interest of the judges themselves, because the 
principal share of the fees, fines, etc., went to them. See also § 143 on 
"clerical privileges" and § 159. 



188 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 171 

bloodshed the primate now yielded to the entreaties of bishops 
and lords and put his name to the fatal document. But he 
repented directly, wrote to Rome for absolution, and at another 
session of the Great Council retracted publicly and solemnly. 
He was the only bishop that did so. The king's anger was 
terrible. Thomas fled to France, while Henry seized his 
ecclesiastical and private property. Even his innocent relatives 
and friends with their whole families, about four hundred 
persons, were robbed of all their possessions, driven out of the 
country, and forced to swear that they would go to the primate 
and implore him to satisfy the king.^ It must be said to Henry's 
credit that he does not seem to have sided with the anti-pope 
against Alexander III (§ 208). 

The urgings of Alexander III and the fear of spiritual punish- 
ments finally prevailed on him to come to some understanding 
with St. Thomas and to allow him to return to Canterbury. 
But his former sentiments soon awoke again. Four of his 
knights took his angry words as a desire to see the troublesome 
prelate done away with. They hastened to Canterbury and 
killed Thomas in his cathedral, a.d. 1170. Henry disclaimed 
having given any such order, and of his own accord did 
public penance at the tomb of the martyr and canceled the 
obnoxious Constitutions of Clarendon. The martyr's death 
was the victory of his cause. 

The people of England felt that St. Thomas had fought for their own 
liberty while upholding the rights of the Church. He became one of 
the most popular Saints and his tomb the goal of countless pilgrimages 
in England and from abroad. 

171. Henry II's Expedition to Ireland. — This enterprise 
falls between the death of St. Thomas Becket and the public 
penance performed by Henry at the Saint's tomb. 

1 Another instance of Henry's cruel vindictiveness is related by Lingard. 
In one of his wars against Wales he had received a number of the children 
of Welsh princes as hostages. When the Welshmen, provoked as they said 



§ 1731 ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE 189 

After the battle of Clontarf in 1014 (§ 102) the Danes made no 
more inroads into Ireland. But the victory brought no political 
unity. There was strife and conflict between the tribes and 
parts of tribes almost incessantly. 

Shortly before a.d. 1170, Dermot McMurrough, king of the 
Province of Leinster, " who combined zeal for founding churches 
and encouraging learning with a ferocious cruelty and licentious- 
ness/' was forced to flee the country. With the permission of 
Henry II he obtained the assistance of some Anglo-Norman 
knights, chief of whom was Richard Strongbow. By their aid 
Dermot repossessed himself of his kingdom and allowed his 
friends to occupy Dublin and its surroutiding. Both the rapac- 
ity of these adventurers and jealousy of their success impelled 
Henry to cross over himself, 1171. He fought no battle but 
redressed some grievances of the natives and tried to win 
them by the display of his army, by condescension, and by the 
splendor of his court. An assembly of Irish chieftains at Water- 
ford recognized him in some vague terms as their lord. He 
left the following spring and almost his first act was the rec- 
onciliation with the pope and the penance at St. Thomas' tomb. 

172, Again the Irish failed to effect a strong union of their 
forces, though the Anglo-Normans from now on made little or 
no progress. The latter retained their hold, however, on a 
district in the Southeast of Ireland with the city of Dublin. 
This was subsequently called the Pale. Its boundaries shifted 
as the power of the invaders increased or relaxed. But the 
English king continued wearing the title of Lord of Ireland} 

173. The most important of Henry's reforms had to do with 
the administration of justice. — The King's Court established 
by Henry I (§ 163) still existed, but as the supreme court of 
justice it had lost much of its importance. It was hardly 

by outrages, renewed the war, he had the eyes of the boy hostages put out and 
the noses and ears of the girls cut off. (Vol. II, p. 145.) 
1 Guggenberger, I, §§ 499-503. 



190 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 174 

more than the feudal court for the king and his imme- 
diate vassals. Henry II again made it accessible to all free 
Englishmen, in particular to those in danger of being dispossessed 
by their lords. He divided England into six districts, into each 
of which three judges from the King's Court were sent at stated 
times. These were the Circuit Judges. It was indeed their 
primary duty to secure the king's revenues, which were collected 
with the utmost rigor. But they were also empowered to 
represent the monarch by doing justice whenever any man 
appealed to them. This again helped to enrich the royal coffers 
by the fees demanded or offered for taking up a case or proceeding 
with it. 

The system had three important effects. It served greatly 
to unify English law and to prevent the growing up of as many 
codes of law as there were local courts (§§ 154-156). The royal 
judges, moreover, were likely to administer justice more in- 
dependently than were those of the shire or hundred or the feudal 
authorities. Finally the institution brought the king's judicial 
assistance to the very door of every Englishman. No other 
country in Europe could boast of such a system. Purged of 
abuses the circuit courts still exist as part of the English judi- 
ciary, and have been adopted by the framers of the American 
Constitution. 

From the decisions of these various courts developed a system 
of law, unwritten but none the less uniform, the Common Law, 
which is the basis of most of our xVmerican justice. 

174. The Method of Trial in the Courts. — In most civilized 
countries the court trials are generally carried on with the 
assistance of a Jury, that is, there are besides the judges twelve 
other men selected from among the citizens. They listen to 
the witnesses and thereupon answer the question whether, 
from the evidence presented in the court, the accused person 
is guilty or not. By doing so they really act as judges, though 
they are not so called. If they declare the man guilty, the 



§ 175] THE CLOSING YEARS OF HENRY II 191 

judge imposes the penalty. These men are styled Jurors or 
Jurymen, which means persons that have sworn, namely to pro- 
nounce a just verdict. They are, however, the Petty Jury. Pre- 
ceding the trial there has been the action of the Grand Jury, 
whose province it is to see whether it is advisable to have the 
man tried at all. 

This system, under one form or other, is very old. Traces 
of it are found even in the ancient Teutonic customs. But 
the beginnings of its present form date from Henry II. His 
Norman predecessors already had appointed similar boards to 
decide cases in which the king's property interests were in- 
volved. Henry II extended it to the civil cases (questions of 
property) of all the freemen. He also ordered that in criminal 
cases such juries should present suspected offenders to the 
court for trial. This is what our Grand Juries do now. Thus 
persons too mighty to be accused by individuals could be haled 
into court. The trial was still carried on by ordeal (§ 66). 
But when the ordeals were more and more abandoned and even 
condemned by the Church, a smaller jury was summoned for 
the trial. This trial jury at first acted both as witnesses and 
as judges. But since they were allowed to call in other wit- 
nesses, it became the rule for them to act as judges only. — 
In spite of many undeniable shortcomings this system is rightly 
considered as a guarantee of popular liberty and a means of 
inspiring the people with confidence in the verdicts of the courts. 

175. The Closing Years of Henry II were darkened by 
domestic troubles. The feudal lords tried to cast off royal 
control. A powerful coalition was formed between this English 
feudal force, the king of Scotland, and the king of France. 
Henry's splendid generalship crushed his foes in detail ; and 
England had seen its last great uprising of feudalism against the 
natio7ial government. 

But Philip II of France, who had stirred them to treason, 
now intrigued ceaselessly with the remaining sons, Richard 



192 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 176 

and John. The dying king was driven to yield to their demands. 
As a condition of peace, a Hst of conspirators whom he was 
required to pardon was handed him. At the head stood the 
name of John, his favorite son. Indeed his partiality for John 
had driven Richard into arms against him. Thus John's name 
in the list of traitors was the last blow. The king sank into a 
deep melancholy. " Now," he said, " I care no more for myself 
or the world." Seven days later, when he felt that his end was 
near, he had himself carried into church, received the last 
sacraments and died at the foot of the altar. 

176. Richard I, 1189-1199. — The great officers who had 
been trained under Henry II carried on his system of govern- 
ment with little change through the reigns of his two tyran- 
nical sons. Richard " the Lion Hearted " cared mainly for 
military glory. He was a valiant, impetuous knight, but a 
weak statesman and ruler. Of the eleven years of his reign, 
he spent only seven months in England, and these solely to get 
money for foreign wars. Happily he was as careless as he was 
tyrannical ; and, in his need of money, he sold many charters 
of liberties to the rising towns. He is remembered as one of the 
leaders of the Third Crusade (§ 243). 

177. John (1199-1216) was an abler man than his brother, 
but a more despicable character. Three events mark his 
reign, — defeats by France, by the pope, and by his subjects. 
(1) Abroad, he lost Normandy and all northern France to the 
French king. (2) After a long quarrel with Pope Innocent III, 
John promised to redress the grievances of his subjects. And 
though not compelled by the pope, he even surrendered England 
to the pope to receive it back in a kind of semi-vassalage. 
(3) England wrested from his hands a charter of liberties, known 
as Magna Carta (the Great Charter). This third event demands 
fuller notice. 

178. Magna Carta. — Toward the close of his reign, John's 
oppression and harsh exactions brought all classes of English- 



§ 178] MAGNA CARTA 193 

men to unite against him. In 1213, while he was warring in 
France, two mass meetings of barons and knights and townsmen 
gathered, to discuss redress of grievances. Amid stern enthu- 
siasm, Stephen Langton, whom the pope had made Archbishop 
of Canterbury, brought before one of these gatherings the long- 
forgotten charter of Henry I. On this basis, Langton and the 
leaders of the nobles then drew up the demands of the meeting. 



w 

mm 






lii'i.T!<3ol;<\nni5 ^ 






Opening Lines of Magna Carta. (Reduced facsimile). — The charac- 
ters in the margin are supposed to be the coats of arms of barons who 
signed as witnesses, but they are a later embellishment to the document. 

John at first refused even to look at the document. But a 
mighty army of two thousand knights, supported by the towns- 
men of London arrayed in their '' train bands," marched against 
him (" the Army of God and Holy Church "). John was 
deserted by all but a few foreign mercenaries ; and, June 15, 
1215, at a meadow of the Thames called Runnymede, he was 
forced to sign the Great Charter, — the " first great document 
in the Bible of English Liberties." 

The Charter claimed only to state the old liberties of Eng- 
lishmen, not to establish new ones. But it set the law of the land 
above the king's will. True, in some other countries, during 



194 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 178 

the Middle Ages, the great vassals extorted charters of liberties 
for themselves from their kings. But the peculiar features of 
this Charter are : (1) the barons promised to their dependents 



yittl (ifi W<) «2^|wfcn1^ ^ tmp iS&nc^ ?hir^Hediatnr^^Ktr wUaJr 



Nullus liber homo capiatur, vel imprisonetur, aut dissaisiatur, aut utlagetur, 
No free man shall be taken, or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or outlawed, 



attr^Wtv^nr Aytii^ScllrttWr^^ fi^ emti iViwttg n fng 



aut exuletur, aut aliquo modo destruatur, nee super eum ibimus nee super 
or banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor upon 



|«tm m'tttetti tttfi :gfe^ak tti^imt ^tnin \n6mtkyi\t^w\ ttr 



eum mittemus, nisi per legale judicium parium suorumvel per legem terrae. 
him send, except by the legal judgment of his peers or by the law of the land. 

Nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus, aut differemus, rectum aut justiciam. 
To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay, right or justice. 

Sections 39 and 40 of Magna Carta. The bars are facsimiles of the writ- 
ing in the charter, with the curious abbreviations of the medieval Latin. 
Below each line is given the Latin in full with a translation. 

the same rights they demanded for themselves from the king ; 
and (2) special provisions looked after the welfare of townsmen 
and even of villeins. 

The wording, necessarily, belongs to a feudal age; and the greater 
part of the document is concerned with the privileges of feudal vassals. 

The Charter defined precisely the " aids " to which suzerains were en- 
titled, — and so put an end to extortion. It declared that the king could 
raise no scutage (§ 168) or other unusual " aid " without the consent of 
the Great Council of England. All vassals of the king had a right to 
attend this Council ; and so this provision established the principle, — 
no taxation without the consent of the taxed. It declared an accused 
man entitled to speedy trial, — and so laid the foundation for later laws 
of " habeas corpus." It affirmed that no villein, by any fine, should lose 



§ 179] HENRY III, 1217-1272 195 

his oxen or plow, his means of liveHhood, and so foreshadowed our 
very modern laws providing that legal suits shall not take from a man 
his home or his tools. ^ 

The Charter became at once the standard of freedom for the 
whole nation. In the next two centuries, English kings were 
obliged to " confirm " it thirty-eight times ; and its principles, 
and some of its wording, have passed into the constitution and 
laws of every American state. 

As time passed, and as a new society and new needs grew up, 
men read new meanings into the old language and made it 
fit the new age. 

179. Henry III, 1217-1272. — John had no intention of 
keeping his word ; and in a few months, as soon as he could make 
preparations, he began war to overthrow the Charter. His 
sudden death, however, left the crown to his nine-year-old 
son, Henry III. In the name of the boy-king, the great officers 
of the kingdom gave the Charter the first of its many solemn 
confirmations. 

Henry III, gentle and credulous, warm in his attachments, 
forgiving in his enmities, pious, without vices, but also with- 
out energy, was a good man but not a good monarch. His lack 
of independent judgment made him the victim of favoritism. 
His incapacity, however, was productive rather of adversities 
to himself than of misery to his subjects. Under his weak but 
pacific rule the nation grew more rapidly than under any of his 
warlike progenitors. A relatively small part of his long reign 
was marked by the calamities of war. The nobles, unable to 
enrich themselves by the plunder of enemies or the ransom of 
captives, turned their attention to the improvement of their 
estates. Salutary enactments invigorated the spirit of com- 
merce" with other countries. 

1 Robinson, Readings in European History, pp. 231 ff., gives the principal 
provisions of the Great Charter, with a report, from an ancient chronicle, 
how it was won. See also Guggenberger, I, 537-545. 



196 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 180 

Henry Ill's favoritism, which benefited chiefly foreign cour- 
tiers, was one cause of strong opposition. His financial demands 
for purposes which indeed must have seemed questionable 
was another. It united the disaffected elements and led to a 
formidable uprising under Simon of Montfort, who for about a 
year actually ruled in the name of the captive king. To secure 
himself in his position, Simon called the famous parliament of 
1265, which will be spoken of later on (§ 183). But the king's 
son Edward, the later Edward I, rallied the royal party, and 
slew Simon in the battle at Evesham (1265) ; the promise to 
rule according to the system of Simon pacified the country. 

180. Edward I, 1272-1307. — For the two centuries since 
the Conquest, every king had been a foreigner, — Norman or 
Angevin (from Anjou) in tastes and training. Edward was 
English to the core. He had even the golden hair of the old 
Saxon kings, and a favorite Saxon name, as well as a thoroughly 
English character. In his campaigns in France, Wales, and 
Scotland, he proved himself a great general ; but, tall, deep- 
chested, long-limbed, skilled in arms, he was prouder of his 
fame as a knight, earned by desperate fighting in person on 
many a field against heavy odds. In his younger days, his 
passionate temper hurried him sometimes into the cruel sack 
of conquered towns. But he was quick to repent, — at times 
in a burst of tears ; and in his old age he once said, " No man 
ever asked mercy of me and was refused." His shield bore 
for its device the motto, " Keep troth." He was a good 
son, a tender and wise father, a faithful and devoted husband, 
and one of England's noblest kings. 

Edward wished ardently to unite the whole island of Britain 
into one kingdom. In this he won only a partial success. 
The conquest of Wales he did complete ; and, to conciliate 
the Welsh people, he gave to his oldest son the title Prince 
of Wales, which has been borne ever since in England by the 
heir to the crown. For a time, too, Scotland seemed to submit 



§ 181] DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM 197 

to Edward's arms and statesmanship ; but the hero, William 
Wallace, and the patriot king, Robert Bruce, roused the Scotch 
people again to a stubborn and splendid struggle for national 
independence ; and the two halves of the island remained separate 
kingdoms for some centuries more. 

The true fame of Edward rests upon his work as a lawgiver 
and as an organizer of the courts of justice. In both respects, 
he extended and rounded out the work of Henry 11. 

! 

The following section deals with a topic " hard " to recite upon but 
too important to omit wholly. It may be well for a class merely to read 
it with the teacher. 

181. Further Development of the Judicial System. — It was 
chiefly the King's Court that became the object of Edward I's 
reform (§§ 163, 173). The functions of this " Court" were 
manifold, and it was designated by different names according 
to the work it was performing, though it always consisted of the 
same men. When it met to look after the king's revenue, it 
assembled in a treasury room, around a " chequered " table 
(marked off into small squares, for the convenient counting of 
the little piles of money which were laid upon it by the sheriffs). 
In such meetings, the court was called " the Exchequer." 
When hearing appeals from the circuit courts (§ 173), it was 
styled the " Court of Common Pleas " because the cases thus 
laid before it dealt mainly with questions of property between 
man and man {civil cases). To decide important criminal 
cases, a body of the members of the King's Court would take 
its place upon a particular " bench " in the hall where the whole 
court used to gather. This was known as the *^ Court of the 
King's Bench." 

Edward I now broke up the King's Court entirely and estab- 
lished three wholly separate and independent Courts — the Ex- 
chequer, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of the King's 



198 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRU&ADES [§ 182 

Bench — each one sitting in its own fixed place and devoted 
exclusively to its particular kind of business} 

Already Henry II had begun to assign the judicial work of the 
King's Court preferably to certain members. As the country ad- 
vanced in civilization, matters of law made special legal knowl- 
edge more and more desirable. The number of trained jurists 
increased. The time had passed, too, when the knowledge of 
the laws was regarded as the almost exclusive privilege of 
ecclesiastics. Lay lawyers became numerous. Thanks to their 
greater efficiency the professional jurists were given preference 
in the appointment of judges, and from Edward I on they 
monopolized the supreme courts. 

182. Like Henry II, Edward struck vigorously at feudalism — in 

four distinct ways. 

He widened the jurisdiction of his courts at the expense of the feudal 
courts. A famous writ of Quo Warranto called upon every great noble 
to show " by what warrant " he held his estates and exercised judicial 
authority. In some cases such authority had been seized in times of 
disorder and had become established by custom merely. Even when a 
definite grant of jurisdiction had been made, along with the grant of 
lands, it was often hard to produce a record of it. But Edward and his 
courts held that unless an express grant of such power from some king 
could be proven, the authority must revert to the king's 'courts. This 
was the heaviest blow that feudalism had ever received. It went far 
to overthrow it, so far as government was concerned, in favor of a national 
government. 

One of Edward's greatest laws was called Quia Emptores, from the two 
Latin words with which it opened. It provided that if thereafter a 
lord sold any of his land (or let it out in any way), then the new holder 
should not be his vassal, as formerly, but a vassal only of the next higher 
lord. In effect, this soon made the great mass of landowners into 

1 This has remained the English judicial system down to modern times. 
Appeals could still be made to the king ; and so grew up the later supreme 
jurisdiction of "the King in Council." Under Edward I, too, the Chan- 
cellor was authorized to hold a court for the purpose of doing justice in cases 
where it would not be done if the usual forms of law were followed strictly. 
Thus began the "equity jurisdiction" of the "Court of Chancery." 



§ 183] THE BEGINNING OF PARLIAMENT 199 

vassals only of the highest landlord, — tenants-in-chief of the king. 
The landlord side of feudalism had lost its chief importance. 

Another great statute compelled all gentlemen who had an income of 
£ 20 a year from land to beconie "knights." This multiplied immensely 
the number of people in this proud order. Or rather, 'the feudal class 
lost itself in a much larger class. Its social exclusiveness had gone. 

Edward's laws also revived Henry IPs " assize of arms,'' and extended 
it, ordering that all men who could not provide themselves with armor 
for the national army should at least be ready to come with bow and 
arrows. The English long-bow had been becoming famous in the hands 
of forest outlaws (whose story is told in popular ballads, like the ones 
about Robin Hood) ; but Edward was the first English king to see the 
value of that weapon in regular war. Soon afterward, his archers won 
for him the pitched battle of Falkirk over the most gallant of Scottish 
chivalry. Unarmored infantry repelled armored horsemen. The 
military supremacy of the feudal noble had received a fatal blow — though 
even then few people really understood the fact until the victory of 
English archers was repeated on a larger scale in France somewhat 
later (§ 283). 

We have been speaking of Edward's " laws," As Henry 11 carried 
his reforms through, extending the influence of the Great Council, 
so Edward carried his reforms in a long series of " statutes," enacted by 
a new national legislature which we call Parliament. 

183. The Beginning of Parliament. — Some sort of an 
" Assembly " has always made part of the English govern- 
ment. Under the Saxon kings, the Wit an (or meeting of 
Wisemen, §§ 152 note, 163) at times exercised great power, 
sanctioning codes of laws, and even deposing and electing 
kings. It consisted of large landowners and officials and the 
higher clergy, with now and then some infusion' of more demo- 
cratic elements. » 

After the Conquest, the Witan gave way to the Great Council 
of the Norman kings. This was a feudal gathering, — made 
up of lords and bishops, resembling the Witan, but somewhat 
more aristocratic. A king was supposed to rule " with the 
advice and consent " of his Council ; but in practice that body 



200 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 183 

was merely the king's mouthpiece in ordinary times, until 
Henry II raised it to real importance. 

Magna Carta gave it additional weight by providing that 
no military " l^x " ^ should be imposed without the Council's 
consent. At the same time, the Charter prescribed just how the 
Council should be called together. As has been said (§ 182), 
all who held land directly of the king ("' tenants-in-chief," or 
''barons") were entitled to be present, but only the "great 
barons " ever came. According to the Charter, thereafter the 
great barons were to be summoned individually by letter, and 
the numerous smaller barons hy a general notice read by the 
sheriffs in the court of each county. 

Still the smaller barons failed to assemble ; and in the trou- 
bles of the reign of Henry III, on two or three occasions, the 
sheriffs had been directed to see to it that each county sent 
knights to the gathering. Thus a represeritative element was 
introduced into the National Assembly. 

The principle of representative government was by no means new. 
It had taken root long before in Icccl institutions. The "four men" of 
each township present in court of hundred or shire (§ 155) spoke for 
all their township. The sworn " jurors " of a shire who " presented '^ 
offenders for trial under Henry II spoke for the whole shire. The 
same principle was now applied in a larger, central gathering, for all 
England. 

Simon of Montfort had seized upon this system of rep- 
resentation for wider usefulness (§ 179). The writs for the 
famous Parliament ^ of 1265, issued by Simon's direction while 
the king was in his power, called for the attendance of two 

1 The charter did not say " tax." Taxation proper had hardly begun. It 
did say that no "scutage," a sort of war tax (§168, 2), should be imposed 
without the Council's consent. Then, when a system of real taxation grew 
up, the principle was extended to all taxes. 

2 This name for the National Assembly had come into use shortly earlier. 
We use it now to distinguish the Assembly after the introduction of represen- 
tation from the earlier "Councils." 



§ 184] THE MODEL PARLIAMENT 201 

knights from each shire and also of two burgesses from each 
borough, to sit with the lords and clergy. Thus was taken a 
great step toward changing the Great Council of royal vassals 
into a " Parliament " representing the people. 

184. The Model Parliament, 1295. — In the years that imme- 
diately followed this deed of Simon, several national assemblies 
met, wherein towns and counties had some representation ; but 
the exact form varied from time to time, and the powers of the 
representatives were slight and indefinite. It was found, however, 
that in granting contributions to the crown the representatives 
of counties and towns were remarkably liberal. Hence in the 
'' Model Parliament " of 1295, Edward I, who for ten years 
had not summoned the Great Council, adopted Simon's plan 
of thirty years before. Each shire and each borough was 
called upon to send its two representatives, — since, as Edward's 
writ read, " that which touches all should be approved by all." 
From that time the regular representation of counties and 
boroughs became a fixed principle in the English national 
assembly. The assembly was, however, only in part represent- 
ative. The great feudatories, both lay and clerical, came in 
their own name. 

After half a century or so, Parliament began to sit in two " Houses." 

— At first all sat together in one hall. Had this continued, the towns- 
men would never have secured much voice : they would have been 
frightened and overawed by the nobles. The result would have been 
little better if the three estates had come to sit separately, as they did 
in France and Spain. With so many distinct orders, an able king could 
easily have played off one against the other. England followed a 
course of its own. 

Edward summoned to his Model Parliament the " three estates " ^ — 
the clergy, the nobles, and the burgesses. The inferior clergy, that is, 
chiefly, the parish priests, *very soon refused to attend. The great 
spiritual lords (bishops and abbots) were not numerous enough by them- 

1 "Estate," used in this way, means a "class" of people with distinct 
privileges and duties of their own. 



202 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 185 

selves to make an " estate," and so they took their place with the great 
lay lords. Thus, when the different orders began to sit in different halls, 
the great peers, lay and spiritual, who were summoned by individual 
letters, made a " House of Lords," while the representative elements — 
knights of the shire and burgesses, who had been accustomed to act 
together in shire courts — came together, in the national assembly, 
as the " House of Commons." 

Thus the three estates faded into two; and even these two were not com- 
pletely distinct. For in England, unlike the case upon the continent, only 
the oldest son of a lord succeeded to his father's title and nobility, and to 
the right to a personal summons to the House of Lords. The younger sons 
— and even the oldest son during his father's life — belonged in the gentry 
(gentleman) class, and at most were " knights of the shire." As such, 
oftentimes, the son or the brother of an earl sat for his county in the 
House of Commons beside the shopkeeper from the town. The gentry 
in the Commons formed a link to bind Lords and Commons together. This 
preserved good understanding between the two Houses, so that upon 
occasion they could act in unison in behalf of English liberty. The 
House of Commons, from the first, was much more than an "estate," 
and it was to widen, in time, into the representative of the nation. 

185. ** No Taxation without Representation." — His wars 
induced Edward I to demand high money contributions from 
his nobles, lay and ecclesiastical. The clergy protested vigor- 
ously because according to the existing laws of the Church they 
should not pay any taxes. But most of them were intimidated 
and later on really paid the amount. Pope Boniface VIII, 
urged at the same time by bitter complaints of the French 
clergy (§ 327), restated in the famous bull "Clericis Laicos" 
the old regulations in strong language. At the same time the 
lay lords of England, too, complained of the extortionate taxing 
by the king. Archbishop Winchelsey of Canterbury, who had 
never paid the tax, took his stand with the lay lords in their 
opposition. Armed with the papal document he was able to 
give greater force to their resistance. - Edward I yielded. He 
again solemnly confirmed the Magna Carta with the additional 
promise, never to impose any kind of tax without the consent of 
Parliament. Thus was established in England's political life 



§ 186] PARLIAMENT DEPOSES A KING 203 

the principle of " No taxation without representation," which 
was to play such an important part in the history of America.^ 
186. Parliament Deposes a King. — Even before this two- 
House form was established, Parliament gave one striking 
demonstration of its power. Edward II (1307-1327), son of 
the great Edward, was a weak and unworthy successor. Selfish 
and greedy favorites ruled through him, to the discontent and 
injury of the people. Finally, the nation rose against him, 
and Parliament deposed him with much legal formality. With 
the long reign of his son, Edward III, England emerges from 
the Middle Ages. 

The authority of Parliament for ordinary times was yet to grow ; but 
by 1340 (in the time of Edward III) the division into two Houses was 
effected. The framework of the national legislature was complete, like 
the framework of the judicial system a little earlier. In studying this 
growth, we have been studying more than English history merely. 
England has been the " Mother of Parliaments " for all countries which 
to-day have free governments. 

Exercises similar to those suggested after § 218, but limited to 
England. 

1 See Walsh, Thirteenth Century, pp. 372-374. 



204 ENGLAND TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 187 



187. TABLE OF NORMAN AND PLANTAGENET KINGS ^ 

(1) William I 
1066-1087 



Robert, Duke (2) William II (3) Henry I Adela= Stephen, 
of Normandy (Rufus) 1100-1135 | Count of Blois 

d. 1106 1087-1100 I (4) Stephen 

1135-1154 



William 


1 
Richard 


1 
Matilda = Geoffrey, Count 


d. 1120 


d. 1120 


1 of Anjou 
(5) Henry II 
1054-1189 



Henry (6) Richard I Geoffrey (7) John 

1189-1199 I 1199-1216 

Arthur, d. 1203 | 

(8) Henry III 
1216-1272 

I 

(9) Edward I* 

1272-1307 

I 

(10) Edward II 

. 1307-1327 

I 

(11) Edward III 

1327-1377 
1 The kings are numbered. The symbol = means "married." 



CHAPTER IX 

FRANCE TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES 

We now turn to the countries which once made up the empire of 
Charlemagne. The western part of the continent with its Roman and 
Carolingian traditions was the scene of those events, both secular and 
ecclesiastical, which most affected the history of the world for the next 
centuries. But it was no longer united. There were several realms 
in place of the empire of the great Charles. We shall take up first 
the kingdom of West-Frankland. (Review §§ 97-100.) 

188. Accession of the Capetians. — During the inroads of the 
Northmen (before the foundation of Normandy ; see § 102), 
Robert the Strong had defended the city of Paris, then a small 
town on a marshy island in the Seine River. His origin was 
obscure. According to some he was a Saxon by extraction. 
Robert's son, Odo, in turn heroically held the city throughout a 
siege of eleven months, carried on by the same terrible foe. 
Odo obtained the position of Duke of Francia, a district extend- 
ing across the rivers Seine and Loire, and including the cities of 
Paris and Orleans. Francia was the principal section of 
Clovis' first conquest (§ 69). Like other parts of Charlemagne's 
realm, the western kingdom had broken up into a number of 
dukedoms and similar vassal states, such as Aquitaine, Bur- 
gundy, Toulouse, Brittany, Flanders, Champagne, some of 
them reviving the names of sections of the old Merovingian 
kingdom. 

In 887 an assembly of the nobles of West-Frankland elected 
Odo, the Duke of Francia, king. For the next hundred years 
the crown passed back and forth between Odo's family and the 
last of the Carolingians. But in 987, after the death of the 

205 



206 FRANCE TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 189 



Carolingian Louis the Sluggard (§ 99), Odo's grand-nephew, 
Hugh Capet, was elected. With him begins the line of the 
Capetians, which replaced the Carolingians. The name of 
Hugh's dukedom, Francia, was gradually extended to the whole 
kingdom (§ 98). This is the origin of the name of France. 

It was the custom for a king to name a successor during his 
own lifetime, and then to have the nomination approved by 
the nobles. For three hundred years, however, each Capetian 
king was blessed with a son old enough to be capable of re- 
ceiving the scepter directly from his hands, and, indeed, to be 
associated with him in the government during his lifetime. So, 
in the absence of conflicting claims, even the form of election 
vanished. French kingship became strictly hereditary, and the 
Capetian family ruled France until very recent days, when 
France ceased to have kings at all. 

189. Reference Table : Capetian Kings to 1314, with Accession Dates. 



Hugh Capet . : . . . 987 

Robert II ..... . 996 

Henry I 1031 

Philip I 1060 

Louis VI. 1108 

Louis VII 1137 



Philip II (Augustus) . . . 1180 

Louis VIII ' . 1223 

Louis IX (the Saint) . . . 1226 

Philip III 1270 

Philip IV (the Fair) . 1285-1314 



190. A '* Feudal Kingship." — In 987 there was as yet no 
'' kingdom of France." Hugh Capet was crowned " King of 
the Gauls, Bretons, Danes, Normans, Aquitanians, Goths, 
Spaniards, and Gascons." This title shows something of the 
composite nature of " France " at that date. 

The election of Hugh did not increase his actual power. It 
did increase his duties, but his resources rested on his posses- 
sions as Duke of Francia. Several of the great vassals ruling 
over the rest of France were each almost as powerful as the 
king, and so far as they obeyed him at all, they obeyed him 
as their feudal suzerain rather than as a national king. He 
had no hold upon the sub vassals (§ 125, 1) nor did he have a 



EUROPE and the fl ^U^ Vi 

i^ZANTINE EMPIRE ^^ ' --'_^ »^^' ^oV""'\'V 



EUKUfli ana i 

BYZANTINE EM 

about lOOO 

;CALF OF 




PAPA], 



iS'OTE: After I-81; the kincdum 

/ >. was at times ilivi'lfil mtu the 

TAXES ,'' ^Kin-:.1..inP"f .Sk-il.v aiwlnf \ai.leL< 

,'Ta.diae.. 
R.TOe 1 ° '/o 1 




§ 192] " FRANCE " WINS THE NORTHWEST 207 

national militia. When he needed an army, his forces came 
(1) from his own immediate feudal followers in his hereditary 
duchy, and (2) from such of his great vassals as felt inclined 
to perform their duties of vassalage. 

191. The Work of the Capetians. — Hugh Capet found France 
broken into feudal fragments, with varying laws and tongues. 
From these unpromising fragments, the Capetian kings in the 
next three centuries made a new French nation, with a common 
language, common customs, and a common patriotism. 

Two outside forces helped the Capetians in this great work, 
the Church and the lawyers. (1) The Church felt the need of 
a strong king to protect society against the violence of greedy 
nobles. And in that day when bishops and abbots were them- 
selves mighty feudal lords, the Church could give not only moral 
support but important material aid. (2) In the eleventh cen- 
tury the lawyer class rose into importance, especially as the 
advisers and clerical assistants of the nobles and kings (§ 181). 
They were trained in the Roman law with its imperial traditions 
(§ 63, note), and they built up a theory of absolute kingship 
which gave the kings moral support in every new claim for 
authority. 

In the main, however, France was made through the shrewd, 
tireless, persistent policy of a long line of able kings who never 
lost sight of their goal. 

" There is no other modern nation which owes so heavy a debt of grati- 
tude to its ancient line of kings as the French. France, as it exists 
to-day, and has existed through all modern history, with all its glorious 
achievements, is their creation and that of no one else." — G. B. Adams. 

192. " France " Wins the Northwest. — The first great 
advances were achieved by Philip II, whom admirers styled 
Philip Augustus, because, like the Roman Augustus, he had 
" enlarged the boundaries of the state." His reign covered the 
last ten years of Henry II of England, all of Richard's and John's 
reigns, and the early years of Henry III. When Philip came to 



208 FRANCE TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 193 

the throne, Henry II was still working vigorously and wisely to 
strengthen the national unity of England against feudal " de- 
centralization." But in Fra7ice Henry was the chief obstacle 
to national unity, — not because he was king of England, but be- 
cause, as a great vassal, he held directly six times as much of 
France (§ 167) as Philip held directly. On all occasions, in 
France, Henry upheld the feudal privileges of the vassals 
against the crown. 

It was natural that a French king should strive to stir up 
enemies, even from within his own household, against this too 
powerful vassal. Philip II set Richard on to make war against 
his father (§ 175) ; and when Richard had become king, Philip 
intrigued with his brother John. Finally, when John suc- 
ceeded to the English crown, and so to the French fiefs, his 
follies and crimes gave Philip his long-sought opportunity. 
Philip's "court" of great vassals (§ 121, 2) summoned John to 
answer for his abuses ; and, on his failure to appear, declared his 
fiefs forfeited to the crown. Philip II enforced this judgment by 
arms, so far as concerned Normandy, Maine, Anjou, Touraine, 
and Poitou. The northwest quarter of " France " was so added 
to the French crown, and the immediate territory of the French 
kings was quadrupled. At last, too, " France " reached the 
sea, with ports both on the Atlantic and the Channel. The 
King of England, as Duke of Aquitaine, still ranked among the 
most powerful French vassals, — along with the Duke of Bur- 
gundy, the Duke of Flanders, the Duke of Brittany, and the 
Count of Champagne. 

193. " France " Gains the Southwest. — There had been 
another of the group, the great Count of Toulouse, most formi- 
dable of them all. But the time was near when this land also, 
from a practically independent vassal state, became an imme- 
diate possession of the crown of France. 

In this case the success of the French kings came through 
the accident of a religious war. In the twelfth century there 







ENGLAND AND FRANCE, 
1154-1453. 



Limit of the French Kingdom 

PoaaevAont of Plantagenet King$_ 
Lands of the French Kinga 



SCALE OF MILES 



1 1 r 

60 100 200 300 400 600 600 



Independent Fief a in Frane* _____^_ 

Territory of Charlta the B))U ofBwrgundy 



§193] "FRANCE" GAINS THE SOUTHWEST 209 

had been a period of decline in the Church (§ 219). This 
resulted in the rise of various sects of heretics. Without doubt 
the worst and most dangerous of them were the Albigenses, so 
called from the city of Albi in Southern France. 

Their doctrines were indeed most pernicious. They denied the sacra- 
ments and the entire ecclesiastical hierarchy, and the power of the 
state to punish crimes. There were two classes of them, the perfect 
and the believers. The perfect were forbidden to marry or to eat 
meat or any animal products, and were obliged to observe rigorous 
fasts. The believers had only two duties ; namely, the firm will 
of joining the perfect sometime before death, and the performance 
of certain acts of reverence when meeting one of the perfect. 
Whatever vices they indulged in would be forgiven upon their entering 
the ranks of the perfect. This transition was brought about by a cere- 
mony called consolamentum, which they imagined gave them absolute 
certainty as to their eternal salvation, provided they fulfilled the duties 
of the perfect. Should they commit a grievous fault, they were irre- 
trievably lost, because the consolamentum could not be repeated. To 
prevent a relapse their friends might resort to the simple means of killing 
them. Such cases were not at all rare. Often, too, they would starve 
themselves to death. It is easy to see to what relaxation of morals, to 
what excesses such a doctrine was bound to lead. The judgment of 
Innocent III, who declared the Albigenses worse than Mohammedans 
(§ 71), is none too severe. 

The mighty Counts of Toulouse were the most ardent pro- 
tectors of this detestable heresy. After all the means of kind- 
ness had been tried against the Albigenses for thirty years, 
Pope Innocent III (§ 231) called upon the Christian princes, 
including the King of France as the sovereign of the Count of 
Toulouse, to use force against them.^ A war of twenty years 
followed, carried on with much perfidy on the part of the heretics 
and with cruelty on both parts. Antagonism against a closer 
union with the royal power in France had much to do with the 

^ See Guggenberger, Vol. I, §§ 546-550. The complete suppression of 
the Albigensian heresy in France and of similar dangerous errors in Italy 
was one of the purposes of the "Inquisition" (§§ 323-326). 



210 FRANCE TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 194 



fierce resistance offered by the Southerners. But during the 
reign of St. Louis IX the wars came to a happy termination. 
In 1229 the Count of Toulouse promised to give up every attempt 
at further protecting the heretics. Part of his county he ceded 
at once to the crown of France. And by the marriage of his 
daughter to a brother of King Louis IX the rest also entered 
into a more direct connection with Capetian France. At the 
opening of his reign Philip II had ruled directly a twelfth of 
modern France. King Louis IX's direct sway extended over 
more than two thirds of it. "France" had won its way to the 
Mediterranean. 

194. Growth of the Absolute Monarchy. — As the kings 
acquired the soil of France, piece by piece, their realm outgrew 

the crude feudal system, and they 
had to create new machinery of 
government. And as they added 
territory to territory, so too they 
added authority to authority. Here, 
too, Philip II, Augustus, made a 
beginning. He divided the royal 
territory into great districts, and 
over these he set royal officers, usually of humble origin so that 
they could not aspire to independent power. 

His grandson, St. Louis IX, continued the work of organi- 
zation. He, like the English kings, struck hard at feudalism, 
not because he hated the ancient institutions, but because he 
perceived their shortcomings and out of a sense of justice en- 
deavored to remedy them. He entirely abolished the right of 
private feuds (§ 127), and greatly improved criminal justice by 
doing away with the judicial combat. He opened the king's 
supreme court to appeals from all the lower feudal courts. 
(See §§ 173, 182.) Thus he gradually concentrated the adminis- 
tration of justice in the crown. Similarly all the other branches 
of the government were reorganized by him. Philip IV, the 




A Gold Florin of St. Louis 
IX. 



§ 195] THE ESTATES GENERAL 211 

Fair, Louis IX's grandson, was of a different stamp. His 
unbounded selfishness did not shrink from any acts of the most 
crying injustice, rapacity, and violence (§§ 246, 327). But he, 
too, contributed his share towards the building up of the system 
of absolute government in France. 

In each district the royal officer was given vast authority 
as a representative of the king. He appointed inferior officers, 
collected royal revenues, — including new taxes of a modern 
sort which Philip IV introduced, — and oversaw every detail 
of local administration. The feudal lords lost all power in 
government, except over their serfs and villeins. These classes 
found no gain in the changes in France, except in the greater 
quiet and freedom from war. But the small vassals and the 
townsmen did find escape from the rapacity and capriciousness 
of their old feudal lords. 

In England this escape had come through the courts, the 
itinerant justices, and the free principles of the common law; 
as P^nglishmen grew to have an instinctive reverence for courts 
and law as the protectors of liberty. In France the like security 
came (a little later than in England) through the power intrusted 
to their officers by the kings. 

195. The Estates General. — France, too, had its Great 
Council Hke England (§§ 185 ff.). Philip IV, the Fair, added 
representatives of the cities to those of the nobility and the 
clergy. In 1302, only a few years after the Model Parliament in 
England, these new " Estates General " had their first meeting. 
But the assembly was never more than a convenient taxing 
machine. Nor did the French people know how to value and 
utilize it as the English people did. The kings summoned the 
Estates General when they chose, and they easily controlled 
its actions. When they no longer needed it, the meetings 
grew rarer and finally ceased entirely.^ 

1 The kingdom had twelve "Parliaments." But in France this name 
denoted a peculiar kind of courts of justice, though at times these parliaments 



212 FRANCE TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES [§ 196 

196. St. Louis IX has been spoken of several times in preceding 
sections. He is one of the noblest figures in medieval history. St. 
Louis possessed the piety of a child. Though a brave and brilliant 
knight (§ 137) and intrepid warrior, he was an ardent lover of peace, 
and never drew his sword except in a good cause and after all other means 
had been exhausted. In the beginning of his reign he was forced to 
struggle against unruly vassals. But it was almost always by nego- 
tiations ably conducted and agreements faithfully executed that he 
succeeded. We shall meet him again as a crusader (§ 245). His prin- 
ciples as man and as ruler are well expressed in his deathbed testament 
to his son Philip III, the Bold, of which the following is an extract. 

" Fair son, the first thing that I teach thee is to mould thy heart to 
love God. If God send thee adversity, accept it patiently, and render 
thanks, and know that thou hast deserved it. If he send thee prosperity, 
thank him humbly, that thou be not worse through pride. Bear 
thyself so that thy confessor and friends may venture to reprove thee 
for thy misdeeds. Attend devoutly to the service of Holy Church 
both with mouth and mind. Let thy heart be gentle and compassionate 
toward the poor and the afflicted, and comfort them so far as in thee 
lies. Help the right, and uphold the poor man until the truth be made 
manifest [i.e. while the case is undecided]. Wage no war with any 
Christian prince, except it be necessary after grave deliberation. Be 
careful to have good provosts and bailiffs, and make frequent inquiries 
about them, and about all thy servants as to how they conduct them- 
selves. Dear son, I bestow upon thee all the benediction a good father 
can give a good son. And may the blessed Trinity preserve and defend 
thee from all evil, and give thee grace to do the will of God." 

Exercises like those following § 218 but on a smaller scale. 

For Further Reading. — Introduction to the History of France, pp. 84^- 
142 ; Guggenberger, I, §§ 342-347, 460, 537, 542, 546-553, 575-581. 

tqo, exerted a great influence upon the internal affairs of the realm. The 
mightiest was the Parliament of Paris. 



CHAPTER X 
GERMANY AND ITALY TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES 

A. The First Rulers after the Carolingians 

197. The German Dukedoms. — x\t the death of Louis the 
Child, the last of the Carolingian rulers in East-Frankland (§ 99), 
the actual power resided chiefly in the hands of the great 
dukes (§ 100). The names of Saxony (with Thuringia), of 
Bavaria, and Lorraine have occurred frequently. The name 
of Alemannia had changed to Suabia, to which belonged Alsace 
on the left bank of the Rhine. Franconia, a district in the center, 
was inhabited by Franks. All the dukes, like those in the west- 
ern kingdom (§ 191), professed themselves vassals to the crown, 
but acted much as they pleased. Some even showed an in- 
clination to break away entirely. 

Most of these duchies represented each a separate tribe with its 
peculiar habits and customs. With the exception of the western- 
most part of Lorraine the language of all of them was German, 
though not without strongly marked differences. 

198. King Conrad I. — The dukes, together with the bishops 
and other prominent nobles, chose Duke Conrad of Franconia 
king. Though personally very energetic, pious, and able, he 
did not succeed, during his short reign of seven years, in curbing 
the power of his vassals and in defending the country from its 
two aggressive pagan foes, the Slavs and the fierce Hungarians 
(§ § 106, 108) . On his deathbed he recommended Henry, Duke of 
Saxony, his personal antagonist, as his successor, passing over 
his own brother Everard. The latter with equal unselfishness 
announced this fact to Henry, whom it is said he found at his 

213 



214 



GERMANY AND ITALY 



[§ 199 



favorite sport of hunting — hence Henry's surname, " the 
Fowler." 




German Dukedoms about 900. 
For the Kingdom of Burgundy see § 206 and map following page 204. 

199. Henry I, the Fowler. — As Duke of Saxony he 
wielded considerable power. His private possessions, too, 
were very extensive. But it was a rare combination of vigor 



§ 199] HENRY I, THE FOWLER ' 215 

and bravery with prudence and kindness which enabled him to 
unite the dukes and the great nobihty with himself in close 
but friendly dependence. To the Hungarians he first paid a 
yearly tribute for a truce of nine years. During this time he 
hastened the wider adoption of armored horsemen, because this 
feature of feudahsm had made httle progress in Germany. 
To some extent he revived the old militia and established the 
so-called Merseburg Troops, a kind of standing army which 
was ever ready for the country's defense. A constant warfare 
against the Slavs furnished opportunities to gain military 
experience. 

A lasting merit is the encouragement he gave to the develop- 
ment of cities. The few cities Germany then possessed were 
practically confined to those parts that had once belonged to the 
Roman Empire. They were situated south of the Danube or 
west of the Rhine, e.g. Cologne, Augsburg, Mainz. Henry 
now erected large walled forts and inclosed the more important 
places by walls. One out of every nine farmers was obliged 
to do guard duty in these fortifications, and provide shelter 
for the other nine, while these tilled his fields. The markets^ 
and popular assemblies were to be held within the walls. All 
this helped to increase the population of these strongholds. 
Many of them grew into large and important cities. So^n 
the granting of municipal privileges still further strengthened 
the movement. For this reason later times gave Henry the 
noble title of " Builder of Cities." 

When Henry refused any longer to pay the tribute, the terrible 
Hungarians poured over the border. But the well-organized 
army inflicted such a blow upon them that for years they pre- 
ferred to leave Germany alone. 

1 In earlier times, the Teutonic peoples held their "markets" — meetings 
for exchanging goods — in open spaces on the borders between the two tribes 
that were trading. These border spaces were called "marks" ("marches"). 
Hence comes our word market, and also the word march (mark state) for a 
border state. • 



216 GERMANY AND ITALY [§200 

200. Otto I, the Great, took up his father's work. He 
still further reduced the power of the great dukes, chiefly by 
augmenting that of the bishops, abbots, and other ecclesiastics. 
Otto aspired to the position of a real king. This caused several 
uprisings, in some of which even his own sons were implicated. 
But he knew not only how to carry out his will but also how 
to forgive those who were willing to submit. Germany under his 
rule became a rather strongly consolidated kingdom, much 
more so than France, where the Capetians had not yet come to 
the throne, and more so even than England, where the House of 
Alfred was still busied in reducing the Danelaw to submission. 

Most of his wars were directed against the pagan Slavs. He 
made their princes and tribes tributary. But their conversion 
he had much more at heart. The new Archbishopric of Magde- 
burg was to be the starting point and base of the missionary 
work. German colonists in large crowds followed the mission- 
aries and in consequence of their superior methods of agriculture 
and government not only assimilated the old inhabitants but 
also secured the country for Christianity. Here, too, the 
activity of the monks (§ 150) was of the utmost importance. 
When under the later reigns the zeal of the kings relaxed, the 
neighboring German princes and bishops carried on the work 
of Chris tianization and colonization. Repeatedly, however, 
paganism, and, to some extent, national feeling roused by harsh- 
ness on the part of the Germans, broke out in fierce opposition. 
It took several centuries before all the land as far as the Oder 
and beyond had become Christian and German.^ Several new 
vassal states, " Marks " or ^' Marches," were founded. One of 
them, the North March, afterwards called Brandenburg, was 
destined centuries later to play a prominent part in German 
history. 

After several minor incursions the Hungarians returned with 

1 Can the class see an important distinction between this eastward expan- 
sion and that. under Charlemagne into Saxon lands? 



60 



GERMAN COIONIZATION 

ON THE EAST AT THE 

EXPENSE OF SLAVS, LETTS, 

AND MAGYARS, 800-1400. 



German ^ Monaster}/ 
Slav S Seat of a Bishop 

Lett ® Seat of an.ArchbitJwp 




§201] 



HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE 



217 



an immense horde — the chroniclers speak of a hundred thou- 
sand horsemen. They devastated Southern Germany. But the 
city of Augsburg held out under its heroic bishop, St. Ulric, 
until Otto approached with the army. The barbarians were 
decisively defeated, almost annihilated. Their inroads into 
Christian countries were 
now at an end (§ 108). 
This Battle on the Lechfeld, 
A.D. 955, although not 
quite so significant as 
those of Chalons and Tours 
(§§ 53, 73), holds a similar 
position among the great 
military events of history. 
The East Mark, established 
against the Hungarians, 
eventually became the nu- 
cleus of the Austrian Mon- 
archy. Thus was prepared 
and partially achieved the 
most important extension 
of the area of Christianity 
and civilization between 
the Roman times and the 
discovery of America. 




The Temporal and the Spiritual, 
Power. — A mosaic of the tenth cen- 
tury in the Church of St. John, Rome, 
representing Christ giving the keys to 
St. Peter and the banner to Constantine 
the Great. 



B. The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation 

201. For more than half a century no emperor had been 
crowned. — Otto's father, the poised and practical Henry, 
pondered grandiosely on a restoration ; and Otto's own ardent 
soul had long been fired with the vision of the imperial diadem. 
He was no doubt the mightiest king in Christendom. Like 
Charlemagne he had victoriously fought for the protection of 



218 GERMANY AND ITALY [§202 

religion and had worked successfully for its extension. The 
masses of the German people, too, dreamed of the elevation of 
their king. When he stood amidst the carnage of the Lechfeld, 
his host with common impulse hailed him *' Emperor of the 
Romans." 

Intervention in the affairs of Italy brought him nearer his goal. 
That country, even more than others, had been shattered into 
fragments. The royal power in the North (§ 98) was a mere 
name. Colonies of Saracens from Africa had established them- 
selves in the South and threatened both the Greek provinces 
and the Papal States. But several years before the battle on 
the Lech an imprisoned royal princess called for help to Otto 
and offered her hand and kingdom to the hero of the North. 
Otto crossed the Alps, and liberated and married the beautiful 
young queen Adelheid. Berengar, the defeated pretender, 
was allowed to rule Northern Italy as a German vassal. More 
Otto could not do for the present. 

Ten years later Berengar sided with a party of turbulent 
Roman nobles against the lawful pope, John XII. Appealed 
to by the pope, Otto again crossed the Alps, forced Berengar 
to enter a monastery, restored order in Rome and was crowned 
Emperor in 962. There was now once more a Roman Emperor, 
a defender of the Church and protector of the papacy. The 
dignity founded by Leo III and Charlemagne was renewed. It 
was now styled : 

202. The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. — 
Concerning the emperor's relation to the pope and other rulers, 
see § 88. From now on the imperial crown remained by an 
unwritten law united with the position of the kings of Germany. 
This means, that the German nation had the exclusive right to 
present their king for coronation to the pope, who unless there 
was some cogent reason would not crown any one not so pre- 
sented. But in the choice of their king they were not restricted 
to their own nation. They might elect a Frenchman or Span- 



§203] THE UNION OF GERMANY AND ITALY 219 

iard. Nor could the pope crown any candidate who, even 
though elected by the Germans, lacked the necessary qualifi- 
cations. 

Circumstances had induced the popes to grant this privilege, 
which made the Germans an object of envy to other nations. 
After centuries, when the dignity had declined in importance, 
it was still coveted by foreign potentates. For Germany the 
golden circle of that sacred crown was a strong bond of unity 
deeply and proudly cherished, and it no doubt retarded the 
process of disintegration with which later on the country was 
threatened. It soon became customary for the German kings 
to style themselves Kings of the Romans or Roman Kings before 
their imperial coronation in Rome. 

203. The Union of Germany and Italy. — The domination 
over Italy was not in itself a necessary adjunct of the imperial 
dignity, but was connected with it by way of fact. Germany 
derived great advantage from close contact with a country 
which was so much more highly civilized. Italy, too, which 
" with its nine hundred ever fighting counts resembled a huge 
ant hill " before the arrival of the Germans, saw a period of 
order and peace. By favoring the bishops and their cities the 
foreign rule indirectly promoted city life and city liberties, and 
thus laid the foundation of the flourishing state of the later 
city republics in northern and central Italy.^ At all times 
brilliant minds south of the Alps expected the greatest benefit 
for Italy and the world, from the Teutonic emperors. Still 
there were other parties which objected strongly to the German 
regime. It was often narrow party politics thwarted in some 
selfish petty designs, but at other times genuine patriotism 
cruelly wounded by tyranny, which prompted the opposition. 
The Roman emperor was never safe in the Roman country 
except with an army at his back. For centuries, however, 
Italy's history is closely bound up with that of Germany. 
1 See Guggenberger, Vol. I, § 461. 



220 GERMANY AND ITALY [§204 

It is claimed, chiefly by Protestant authors (German and non- 
German), that for Germany the disadvantages outweighed the advan- 
tages. The imperial crown, it is said, entangled the German kings in 
the affairs of Italy, so that they failed to give their attention to their 
native land. Nor can it be denied that in the course of the following 
centuries German unity gave way to a state of gradual disorganization, 
and from being the mightiest European kingdom Germany became more 
and more powerless. Yet as Catholics we must not allow that the 
possession of a dignity which participates in the sacred character of an 
ecclesiastical institution should of itself have brought ruin to those who 
held it. Italy in its chaotic condition would have invited any strong 
neighbor to attempt a conquest. In fact later on it attracted the French 
and the Spaniards just as much as it had attracted the Germans before 
them. The imperial crown, even much later, when stripped of most 
of its prestige, was still coveted by other kings and nations. The 
Germans, who, in after centuries, were very loath to grant anything 
to their ruler, put beyond dispute the amount of men and money to be 
contributed to the king's " coronation expedition," because, being the 
best judges, they fully appreciated the advantages accruing to them 
from the possession of the Roman crown. 

204. The Importance of the Imperial Dignity Was Largely in 
the Nature of an Ideal. — Rev. Horace K. Mann, in his Lives 
of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, speaks thus of the corona- 
tion of Otto : 

" Once more the affairs of Christendom were regarded as in proper 
hands. In theory at least, all acknowledged the supremacy of the pope 
in matters spiritual, and that of the emperor in matters temporal. And 
though in practice turbulent bishops or nobles did not hesitate, as 
before, to oppose the authority of either or both ; and though, indeed, 
the " two swords " themselves, i.e. the spiritual weapons of the pope 
and the civil might of the emperors, were often crossed, still there 
can be no doubt that the grand idea of Pope and Emperor — a supreme 
spiritual and a supreme temporal head of the Christian commonwealth 
— had an immense effect in the uplifting of Europe. With such ideals, 
narrow views could not but broaden ; and it was difficult for such as 
put themselves in opposition to them to avoid not merely being regarded 
as in the wrong, but in secret at least thinking themselves in the wrong. 
It was the common possession of one grand ideal in religion and in 
politics that knit Europe together, and not only made possible such 



§206] OTHER EMPERORS OF THE SAXON HOUSE 221 

enterprises as the Crusades, but deepened such important fundamental 
conceptions as the brotherhood of nations and of man." Vol. IV, pp. 
249, 250. 

205. Otto I after His Coronation. — John XII was the true 
pope, but unfortunately he was not a good pope. Even though 
the charges against him are greatly exaggerated, his character 
was far from defensible. Otto soon found out that the pope 
had changed front and was intriguing against him with the Beren- 
garian party and even with the Hungarians. The emperor 
returned to Rome. A council was called, which at the imperial 
suggestion declared John XII deposed and elected another 
pope, Leo VIII. It was a violent and tyrannical step. No power 
could depose the lawfully elected John XII. Hence Leo VIII 
was an anti-pope, though his private life was without blame. 
Otto now induced the Romans to swear not to choose a pope 
without his consent. After the emperor had left Rome, John 
succeeded in regaining the city, but died soon. The saintly 
and learned Benedict V was elected as his successor. He was 
no doubt the lawful pope. But the emperor thought differently. 
Maintaining the claim of his creature Leo VIII he took Rome by 
force and kept Benedict V a prisoner until death. Happily 
both pope and anti-pope died within a short time of each other, 
and a canonical election with the emperor's consent raised 
John XIII to the Apostolic Chair. 

Apart from this blunder, which can in some way be extenuated 
by the extreme provocation he had suffered and by the character of 
John XII, Otto's rule was beneficial to State and Church alike. His 
merit in promoting the missions among the Slavs cannot easily be over- 
estimated. He was deeply impressed with the sacredness of his office, 
and it is related that he never wore the crown without having fasted 
the day before. 

206. The Other Emperors of the Saxon House. — Otto IT 
and Otto III, son and grandson of Otto the Great, continued 
favoring the Church and supporting, though less vigorously, 



222 



GERMANY AND ITALY 



[§206 



the missions in the East and North. Otto III, young, highly 
educated, fervently pious, and greatly beloved by the Germans, 
dreamed of restoring the old Roman empire in its full extent, 
with Rome as his residence — an absolutely impossible project. 
St. Henry II (1002-1024), a distant relative of the childless 
Otto III, a man of thoroughly practical character, was the very 
opposite of his idealistic predecessor. He never strove for the 
impossible. On the whole he maintained the position that 
Germany had attained, towards" the Slavic countries as well as 
Italy (§ 107). His chief care was Germany itself. He did 
perhaps more than anyone else to increase the power of the 
bishops, upon whose fidelity and support he mainly relied. By 
a compact with the King of Burgundy (§ 98) he prepared the 
way for the annexation of that country to Germany, which was 
effected under his successor. 

With St. Henry died out the family of the Saxon emperors.^ Their 
rule had considerably strengthened national unity. It was fruitful, 



1 Reference Table of German Kings 
Those marked with a star were crowned emperors 

(1) Conrad I (Franconian) , 911-918 

(2) Henry I (Saxon), 919-936 

(3) Otto I, 936-973 (Emperor, 962-973) 

(4) Otto II, 973-983 

(5) Otto III, 983-1002 

(6) Henry II, 1002-1024 

(7) Conrad II (Franconian) , 1024-1039 

(8) Henry III, 1039-1056 

(9) Henry IV, 1056-1106 

10) Henry V, 1106-1125 

11) Lothair (of another Saxon Une), 1125-1137 

12) Conrad III (Hohenstauf en) , 1138-1152 

13) Frederick I, 1152-1190 

14) Henry VI, 1190-1197 

15) PhiHp, 1198-1203 (deposed) 

16) Otto IV, 1198-1214 (deposed) 

17) Frederick II, 1214-1250 

18) Conrad IV, 1250-1254 
The Interregnum 



*(] 

*(] 

(] 

(] 



* 

*( 



§207] THE SALIAN EMPERORS 223 

in Germany, of great progress in religious, literary, and artistic life. The 
Reform of Cluny (§ 150) found an ardent promoter in St. Henry, under 
whom it began to enter Germany. (The ecclesiastical policy of the 
Saxon kings will be dealt with later, in § 223.) 

207. The Salian Emperors (1024-1125). — Conrad II, the 
first of the Salians or Franconians, ruled much in the same way 
as St. Henry II, though his Church policy was very different. — • 
Henry III, his son, was beyond doubt one of the greatest of all 
the emperors. He still further reduced the power of the mighty 
dukes by diminishing their territories and declaring hereditary 
the fiefs of their subvassals. A confusion concerning the lawful- 
ness of three claimants to the papacy he settled to the benefit 
of the Church, though not without incurring some of the blame 
attaching to the methods of Otto I. But he was ever the 
strong friend and the ardent promoter of the Reform of Cluny 
and of general ecclesiastical discipline. Under him the cities, 
too, began to rise into prominence. Many of them were 
partly or entirely exempted from the power of the lower vassals, 
and as " free and imperial cities " placed directly under the 
emperor. He gave his hearty support to the enforcement of 
the " Truce of God " (§ 127). 

His son and grandson, Henry IV and Henry V, were of a 
different stamp. Henry IV, who came to the throne as a child, 
developed into a willful despot. Henry V, who had revolted 
against his father, surpassed him in craftiness. Both these 
rulers are notorious in history for what is called the Contest of 
Lay-Investiture, which filled half a century. It must be treated 
in an extra chapter.^ 

1 This postponement is due to the division chosen for this book. It is 
preferred to bring down the pohtical history of the principal states of Europe 
as far as the end of the Crusades. A topical chapter (XI) will group together 
all the reform movements inaugurated by the Church during these several 
centuries. The "Contest of Lay-Investiture" is one of these movements. 
This arrangement enables the student to view that important struggle in 
its true setting and its universal character, and not to see in it the isolated 
affair of some individual country. 



224 



GERMANY AND ITALY 



[§208 



C. The Hohenstaufen Emperors 

208. Frederick I, Barbarossa, 1152-1190. — After the twelve 
years' reign of Lothair II, who governed entirely in the spirit of 
St. Henry but with more success, Conrad III, Duke of Suabia, 
of the family of Hohenstaufen, was elected. Passing over his 

young son, he recommended on his 
deathbed his nephew Frederick as 
successor. Frederick I, called Bar- 
barossa (Red-beard) by the Italians, 
was first and foremost a German 
king and gave to Germany a long 
period of peace and prosperity. 
The Germans had every reason to 
see in him a father of their country. 
Unfortunately his ecclesiastical and 
Italian policy was to a large extent 
a failure. He had drawn his ideas 
of the imperial dignity from the 
Justinian Code of Laws, according 
to which the emperor is the sole 
source of right (§ 63) . Evil advisers did the rest. 

The Italian cities in Lombardy had grown into regular 
republics warring upon one another and trying to defy royal 
control. After reducing them to due obedience, Frederick 
called a great assembly on the " Roncalian Fields," to settle 
their relation to the emperor. His chief advisers were four 
professors of Roman Law of Bologna. The development of the 
last two hundred years was completely ignored. It was or- 
dained that the cities were liable to all the burdens which they 
had borne in the time of Otto the Great. This serious mistake 
led to long wars, in which at first the emperor was triumphantly 
victorious. Several of the flourishing cities, among them mighty 
Milan, were captured and destroyed without mercy. 




Castle of Barbarossa on 
THE Rhine 



§208] FREDERICK I, BARBAROSSA 225 

Early in his reign Frederick had freed the city of Rome from 
the machinations of a certain Arnold of Brescia, a heretic 
and political demagogue, and had been crowned emperor. But 
difficulties with the pope soon loomed up. Once in a solemn 
assembly a papal letter to the emperor was read and mis- 
translated in such a way as to mean that the empire was a 
benefice of the Holy See, which would have made the emperor a 
secular vassal of the pope. The Holy Father Adrian (Hadrian) 
IV ^ explained its true meaning. The emperor appeared 
satisfied ; but the indignation roused among his blind admirers 
had already done much harm. Later the emperor on the 
flimsiest pretexts took the side of an antipope and marched 
against Rome to install him. A few days after his arrival in 
the Eternal City a terrible pestilence broke out. A large number 
of his trusted friends and more than 20,000 of his best troops 
perished. This was generally considered a judgment of God. 
But a second one was needed. The pope, Alexander III, 
(§ 170) combined with the Lombard cities in their fight for 
their lawful liberties. At Legnano, 1176, the cause of the Church 
and of freedom triumphed over despotism. The Peace of 
Venice, truly fair to each party, was concluded in 1111} 

The battle of Legnano, just a hundred years after the self-humilation 
of Henry IV at Canossa, marks a triumph of ecclesiastical liberty over 
an encroaching secular ruler, and of civil freedom over tyranny. Al- 
though won by an overwhelming majority, it was nevertheless a victory 
of a citizen infantry over feudal cavalry, and thus presaged the coming 
of a new phase in the history of warfare. 



1 Adrian IV is the only English pope. He was a credit to his country and 
to the Church. His original name was Nicholas Breakspeare. See "The 
English Pope" in Casartelli's Sketches in History. 

2 A lozenge of red and white marble in the vestibule of St. Mark's Church 
indicates the place where the mighty emperor, overcome by the sight of the 
pope, flung away his imperial purple and threw himself at the feet of Alexan- 
der. With tears in his eyes the Holy Father raised him up and gave him the 
kiss of peace. 



226 GERMANY AND ITALY [§209 

This Peace recognized the Lombard cities practically as 
independent republics, though it secured ample rights to the 
emperor. Italy remained a rich source of revenue for him. A 
German army forced the antipope to submit to Alexander III. 

209. Frederick's Place in History. — Despite the defeat of 
Legnano, Frederick remained the greatest and most honored 
monarch in Europe. His court was one of pomp and splendor. 
He looked upon France and England as fiefs of the empire; 
and the sovereigns of those lands regarded the emperor with 
profound respect, if not quite as their overlord. In Germany 
itself, his long reign was a period of remarkable prosperity. 
Forests were cleared to make farming villages, and villages 
grew into trading towns. Agriculture improved its methods, 
and land rose in value. The rougher side of feudal life in the 
castles began to give way to more refined manners, and a 
charming German literature appeared in the lays of the 
Minnesingers (§ 264). 

When an old man, Frederick, no doubt in order to atone for the 
misdeeds of his life, set out upon the Third Crusade (§ 243), 
and was drowned while trying, after a hot day's march, to 
swim across a little stream in Asia Minor. His death in so 
holy a cause made men forget his shortcomings and surrounded 
his name with radiancy. Of all the German kings, Barbarossa, 
even more than Charlemagne, is the popular hero with the 
German people ; and legends long told how he was not dead, 
but sleeping a magic sleep, sitting upon an ivory throne in the 
heart of the Kyffhauser Mountain. At the appointed time, in 
his country's need, the ravens would cease circling about the 
mountain top ; and, at this signal, Barbarossa would awake, to 
bring again the reign of peace and justice. 

210. Guelf and Ghibelline. — The contest in Italy at this 
period gave rise to new party names. The Hohenstaufen 
family took their name from their ancestral castle perched on a 
crag in the Alps. But near this first seat of the family was their 



§211] THE KINGDOM OF THE TWO SICILIES 227 

village of Waiblingen, by which name also they were sometimes 
known. The chief rival of the first Hohenstaufen emperor had 
been Henry the Lion, of Saxony, who was surnamed Welf. 
In German struggles these names became war cries, — Hi 
Welf! Hi Waihling! 

In Italy the German words were softened into Guelf and 
Ghihelline, and in this form they became real party names. A 
Ghibelline was of the imperial party : a Guelf was an adherent 
of the papacy. Long after this original significance had passed 
away, the names were still used by contending factions in 
Italian towns. In general, the democratic factions were 
Guelfs ; but often the terms had no meaning beyond that of 
family interest, — so that *' as meaningless as the squabbles of 
Guelfs and Ghibellines " has become a byword. 

211. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. — Long after the establish- 
ment of the Papal States there remained in Southern Italy a few dis- 
tricts subject to the Byzantine emperors. There were besides some 
Italian principalities dating from Lombard times, and a small province 
acquired by the popes under Henry III. Sicily, however, and some 
localities in the peninsula had fallen into the power of the Saracens. 
Little success crowned the struggle of the Ottos against these foes. But 
under Henry the Saint a party of NormaiLS on their return from a 
pilgrimage to Jerusalem did good service against the Mohammedans. 
A larger force arrived from Normandy and made conquests for which 
their leader swore fealty to the emperor. But they soon attacked Italian, 
Greek, and Arab ahke and treated the subjected population with inso- 
lence and cruelty. An army sent against them by Pope St. Leo IX was 
defeated. Their energetic leader, Robert Guiscard, however, took the 
papal province he had conquered and whatever land he could wrest 
from either the Greeks or the Saracens as a fief of the Holy See. This 
fierce warrior then, always fighting against overwhelmingly superior 
numbers, destroyed both the Greek and the Saracen power in Italy and 
Sicily. The war was considered a holy war — a prelude of the Cru- 
sades. The Arabs he allowed to remain, provided they complied with 
the laws. Thus Robert became the founder of the Kingdom of the Two 
Sicilies within less than thirty years after the Norman William had 
made himself master of England. (§ 153 ff.) Normans now controlled 



228 GERMANY AND ITALY [§212 

the largest island in the North and the largest in the Mediterranean Sea. 
But their influence upon the population in the South was not so thorough 
as it had been in the North. Sicily in particular developed a civilization 
which though Christian and ItaUan was greatly affected by the presence 
of the Oriental elements in the island. (See Guggenberger, I, §§ 348- 
356.) 

212. Barbarossa's Next Successors. — The Kingdom of the 
Two Sicilies had existed a hundred years, when Frederick Bar- 
barossa brought about a marriage between his son and successor, 
Henry VI, and the heiress of the southern realm. The pope, 
who had been kept in ignorance (see § 121), strongly disapproved , 
of this union. But after being crowned emperor, Henry VI 
took possession of his wife's inheritance. He took up the scheme 
of Otto III (§ 206) of founding a world empire. Much more 
powerful, able, and energetic, and aided by the crusading 
spirit of the age, he might have succeeded to a large degree. 
But he died when at the height of his power. At the request of 
his wife, Innocent III became guardian of his infant son 
Frederick, who had already been elected emperor and was of 
course heir to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. With fatherly 
love the great pope took care of the child, gave him an excellent 
education, protected all his interests, and had the Kingdom of 
the Two Sicilies administered in the infant king's name. 

213. The Double Election. — In view of the infancy of " the 
Sicilian Child " the German princes disregarded their first act 
and proceeded to a new election. The Ghibellines chose Philip 
of Suabia, the brother of Henry VI, and the Guelfs Otto of 
Nordheim. Innocent III repeatedly admonished electors and 
elected to come to an understanding. Finally he recognized 
Otto on account of his fidelity to the Church as a candidate 
for the imperial crown. A civil war ensued. When the pope 
was willing to reconsider his decision, Philip was assassinated 
by a private enemy, and Otto now obtained general recognition. 
He went to Rome, but hardly had he been crowned when he 



§214] FREDERICK II 229 

threw all his sworn promises to the winds, occupied the Papal 
States, and launched an attack upon the Kingdom of the Two 
Sicilies in order to dislodge the young Frederick. After ex- 
hausting all means of threats and persuasion to bring him to his 
senses, Innocent, deeply grieved, pronounced the excommuni- 
cation against the ungrateful emperor. The greater part of 
Germany fell away from him directly. Among other reverses, he 
suffered, in 1214, with his ally, John Lackland (§ 177), the terri- 
ble defeat of Bou vines at the hands of the French. The Germans 
turned again to Frederick of Sicily, who was now about twenty 
years old. Frederick, supplied with the necessary funds by his 
guardian Innocent III, came to Germany, was crowned king, 
and, in Rome, received the imperial crown. He had pledged 
himself never to unite the kingdoms of Germany and the Two 
Sicilies. Otto, abandoned by all, sincerely repented on his death- 
bed and ordered the crown jewels to be handed over to Frederick. 

214. Frederick II was crowned by Honorius III in 1220. 
He was one of the most brilliant rulers that ever sat upon a 
throne. His contemporaries called him the wonder of the world. 
He spoke German, Latin, Italian, Greek, and Arabic. All his life 
long he remained a protector of art and literature. But this 
was all he saved from the careful education given him under his 
tutor Innocent III. 

Contrary to his promises he at once united the Kingdom of 
the Two Sicilies with his German realm. He commonly resided 
in the sunny South. With complete disregard of historical 
right he reorganized the kingdom upon an entirely new plan, 
doing away with feudal relations and governing through officials 
whom he appointed and dismissed according to his pleasure. 
This southern kingdom was much more modern than medieval. 
His despotic administration, however, was efficient. The prov- 
inces rose to a flourishing state. Arts and sciences were culti- 
vated. Commerce grew, and the cities, though not politically 
free, became rich and prosperous under Frederick's government. 



230 GERMANY AND ITALY [§214 

But religiously and morally his mind had been poisoned by 
Ghibelline lav/yers and by the loose Arabian society of Sicily. 
Again and again he interfered with the most evident rights of 
the Church and played with promises and oaths. He solemnly 
took the cross for a crusade, but postponed his departure from 
year to year, during which time tens of thousands of crusaders, 
who had gathered in Italy from various lands, either returned 
home in disgust or fell victims to want and diseases. In the 
Orient great advantages were lost, because the Christians, 
rightly expecting to obtain much better results, waited for the 
arrival of the emperor ; but the emperor never came. Finally 
he was excommunicated by the pope. 

Unabsolved Frederick now set out with a handful of knights. 
The Mohammedan ruler, himself a usurper, and at enmity with 
a rival, was on good terms with Frederick. Without drawing 
the sword Frederick by a truce received for ten years the Holy 
City with Bethlehem and Nazareth. In the Church of the 
Holy Sepulcher he put the crown of the Kingdom of Jerusalem 
on his head with his own hands, without any prayer or ceremony, 
because no priest or bishop was willing to crown an excom- 
municated man. As peace had now been brought about, he 
ordered all the crusaders to leave the Holy Land. All Christen- 
dom was indignant at such a crusade. For the sake of Christian 
unity Pope Gregory IX patched up a treaty with Frederick 
and absolved him from the excommunication. 

In Germany, where he resided rarely, Frederick was for a long 
time very popular. Here he showed respect for existing condi- 
tions, and honored and increased the privileges of the vassals 
and the liberties of the cities. In 1234 he assisted in a very 
edifying manner at the solemn deposition of the remains of 
St. Elizabeth,^ Countess of Thuringia, who had just been 
canonized. 

1 The life of this amiable Saint, one of the greatest models of charity, 
will prove attractive reading. She was the daughter of the king of Hungary. 



§215] FREDERICK II 231 

But in Italy and Sicily he again began his encroachments 
upon the rights and possessions of the Church. He kept im- 
prisoned a Mohammedan prince who was on his way to Rome 
to be baptized. He prevented the appointment of bishops to 
twenty dioceses, and desecrated and destroyed churches through 
his Saracen soldiery. In good Moslem fashion he kept his wife, 
the Empress Isabella, an English princess, in close confinement, 
and was openly accused of polygamy. He appealed to a General 
Council, and the pope summoned one to meet in Rome. But 
then the emperor captured a party consisting of several cardinals 
and about a hundred bishops on their way to the Council, and 
threw them into dungeons. 

In the thirteenth century there was another invasion of Mongols or 
Tartars into Europe, as terrible as that of their kinsmen the Huns 
(§§ 49, 53). Under their leader Genghis Khan (Lord of Lords) the 
Mongols had already subjected and cruelly devastated Russia and 
Poland, and approached the boundaries of Germany. Urgent appeals 
were sent to the absent emperor. But Frederick preferred to pursue the 
conquest of papal territory. In 1240 the Mongols fought a drawn battle 
with an army hastily gathered by some German princes, and did not 
attempt to advance any further. Their empire embraced eastern 
Europe and nearly all Asia. Its capital was Peking. Later it broke 
up into parts. But Russia remained, until about 1500 (§ 487), under 
the yoke of a Tartar power called the Golden Horde. 

215. A General Council was now called at Lyons. In 1245 
it declared Frederick II deposed. The Germans elected another 
king, while Frederick's interests were represented by his son. 
Both parties endeavored to gain and keep adherents by giving 
away the royal rights and possessions. In Italy, the papacy 
allied itself again with the Lombard cities, which Frederick meant 
to treat as if there had never been a Peace of Venice (§ 208). 
The cities, as w^as natural, fought chiefly for political ends. 
For five years the struggle went on with acts of repulsive cruelty 
on both sides, though Frederick by far surpassed his opponents. 
Frederick II died in 1250. On his deathbed he received the 



232 GERMANY AND ITALY [§216 

sacraments, and ordered restitution to be made to the Church 
and to all whom he had injured. *' What the people of Italy 
thought of him," says a German historian, " they showed by 
their boundless joy at the return (from France) of the pope, 
whose journey was one series of triumphs — because the 
tyrant was no more, and there was now hope for better times." 
With Frederick II practically ends the rule of the Hohenstau- 
fens in Germany. His son Conrad IV, elected king by his 
party, never obtained real power and died four years after his 
father, in 1254. 

216. Charles of Anjou. — The kingdom of the two Sicilies remained 
for some years the object of fierce fighting between Frederick's Italian 
descendants and the papal party. In 1266 the pope as suzerain of the 
kingdom gave the crown to Charles of Anjou, a brother of St. Louis 
IX of France.^ His harshness caused so much dissatisfaction that 
Conradin, Frederick's grandson and last scion, a youth of sixteen 
years, ventured on an attempt at gaining the kingdom. He was de- 
feated and captured. A court summoned for the express purpose of 
condemning him declared him innocent with all but one vote. This 
vote sufficed for Charles of Anjou to have him executed. Thus, on the 
scaffold, ended the family of the Hohenstaufen emperors. 

But Charles of Anjou's cruelty and the insolence of his French 
retainers provoked a bloody insurrection in Sicily, beginning with a 
massacre called the Sicilian Vespers. Peter III of Aragon was invited, 
and eventually the island became a separate kingdom under his suc- 
cessors. Charles of Anjou maintained himself in the peninsula, thus 
forming the separate kingdom of Naples. Both kingdoms, however, 
remained fiefs of the Holy See. 

217. The Work of the Hohenstaufen Emperors. — Under 
them Germany saw a new and brilliant growth of arts and 
literature, particularly in poetry. Many of the grandest build- 
ings of the mighty princes and flourishing cities were finished or 

^ This Charles of Anjou was no relative at all of the Angevin family that 
ascended the English throne in the person of Henry II (§ 166 ff.). Charles 
had by marriage acquired the County of Provence, and thus was in name a 
German vassal. 



§218] THE PAPACY 233 

commenced. The Crusades exerted their renovating influence 
in every direction. The kingdom and empire reached a domi- 
nating position in Europe. Nor did the intellectual side of this 
development cease with the end of the Hohenstaufen rule. 
The wrong conception of the imperial dignity, however, could not 
but work great harm. The violent and almost insane opposition 
of Frederick II to the papacy degraded the crown which he 
wore. About the time of his last war with the popes there set in a 
rapid political decay. Several of the German dukedoms had 
been broken up, and their former subvassals became immediately 
subject to the crown. But this served only to prepare a state 
of political confusion, and the title and rank of duke was now 
bestowed on more princes. The rise of the cities, promoted by 
the rulers themselves, weakened the influence of all the vassals 
of the crown, but the granting of royal privileges to many 
princes, — e.g. exemption from appeals to the king, — and the 
liberal distribution of royal property, the chief source of 
revenue in an age which practically knew no taxes, tended to 
diminish greatly the ruler's actual power. This squandering 
of the king's rights and property assumed truly alarming pro- 
portions shortly before and after Frederick II's death. The 
effects became apparent. Germany had entered upon a process 
of interior disintegration. After this, few German kings were 
strong enough to go to Rome to receive the imperial crown. 
Meanwhile France, interiorly strengthened (§ 194), inaugurated 
a policy of conquest. 

The Italian cities were practically left to themselves. Not- 
withstanding their endless party strifes and wars (§ 209), they 
grew constantly in prosperity, and their intellectual life became 
more vigorous. They, more, perhaps, than any other country, 
were benefited by the new Mendicant Orders (§ 232 ff.). 

218. The Papacy. — Imperial transgressions had forced this 
struggle upon the popes. They came out victorious. It had 
cost them dearly, however. In the last contest with Frederick II 



234 GERMANY AND ITALY [§218 

they were deprived of the revenues of their States and at 
the same time obUged to shoulder heavy expenses. They 
resorted to a taxation of ecclesiastical property. Their right 
to do so and the justice of their cause cannot be questioned, 
but complaints were at once raised by avaricious prelates and 
jealous rulers. These complaints increased constantly and 
became one of the standing grievances against the Holy See. 
The popes could no longer rely upon a strong Germany, and 
began to look to France for support. But this France had 
ceased to be the France of Saint Louis. 

Exercises on §§ 151-218. (1) Fact drills (cf. Ancient World, pp. 166, 
299, for suggestions.) (a) Dates: 843, 887, 962, 1166, 1270, 1295. 

(6) Fix other events by pointing out the connection with these d^-tes ; 
such as Lechfeld, Lombard League, Accession of the Capetians, Peace 
of Venice. 

(c) Make up a Ust, in three parallel columns, of the principal events 
during each century, in England, France, Germany. (Cf . Ancient World, 
pp. 102 ff .; 

{d) Make up a list of terms for brief explanation, by countries, or by 
centuries or periods, giving the names of rulers, battles, political or 
economic institutions. 

(e) Write a series of events on the history of individual rulers, or of 
some entire country, or of some period. (Cf. Questions to Ancieni 
World, Marius and Sulla.) 

(2) Map Review. Compare the maps on the several countries for 
the varying boundaries, and for increase in number of political divisions. 



SECTION IV. PERIOD OF THE CRUSADES 

CHAPTER XI 
REFORMATORY MOVEMENTS IN THE CHURCH 

219. Concerning Church Reform. — We have observed 
repeatedly that the disciphne of the Church and the morals 
of both clergy and laity were not what they should have been. 
Young Catholic students', accustomed to look up with great 
respect to their ecclesiastical superiors, are often shocked when 
for the first time it comes home to them that in the past there have 
been priests and bishops who were lukewarm in their faith, 
lax in their morals, and careless in the fulfillment of their duties ; 
nay, that there have even been a few bad popes. ^ But this should 
neither dishearten nor frighten us. Among the twelve Apostles 
there was one Judas, and one, St. Peter, who in a moment of 
temptation denied his Lord, and one, St. Thomas, who at first 
refused to believe in the resurrection. And yet it was through 
the Apostles that the Divine Redeemer built up His glorious king- 
dom on earth. And so, in spite of all the shortcomings of her 
ministers, the Church has been the great and efficient teacher of 
sanctity, the restorer of morality (see §§ 30, 41), the chief, and 
in a way, the only civilizer of the barbarian nations. 

Moreover, being an organism which is animated by a Divine 
Spirit, the Church possesses the power of reforming both herself 
and her members, whenever a reform is needed. And when 
this is the case, God will not fail to see that such a reform be 

^ It is amusing to come across certain pugnacious persons who have 
heard about one or two of the few bad popes, but know nothing of the many 
good ones. 

235 



236 REFORMATORY MOVEMENTS [§220 

really inaugurated. The chief powers in every reform will 
be the authorities of the Church, above all the papacy, though 
others, laymen included, may not only yield great assistance, 
but even, in a private way, originate the struggle against the 
evils from which the Church is suffering. (See for instance 
§§ 232 and 233.) In fact the whole activity of the Church, like 
the life of every good Christian, is a constant work of reform. 
Nor should it be forgotten that even during the worst periods 
there have never been lacking immense numbers who led the 
life of ordinarily good Catholics, and many that were eminent 
for their sanctity. (See § 57.) 

A. The Evils in the Church 

220. Lay-Investiture. — We have seen previously (§§ 125, 
3; 142, 2) that practically all the great functionaries of the 
Church possessed feudal property, which the great lords or the 
kings themselves had bestowed upon them. For this property 
they and their lords went through the ceremony of investiture 
(§ 118). But as it was not thought becoming that a bishop 
or abbot should be handed a spear or banner or anything 
suggestive of warfare, it was customary to invest ecclesiastics by 
surrendering to them the ring and pastoral staff. Now this was 
likely to create an essentially wrong impression. Ring and 
staff were here used to represent the secular fief, while in them- 
selves they were the emblems of spiritual jurisdiction. The act, 
therefore, was apt to create the opinion that the bishop received 
from the king not a temporal possession but the spiritual power 
itself. 

As long as this lay-investiture took place after a canonical 
election (§ 142) the evil was not so considerable. But soon the 
king (or other temporal lord) simply demanded the ring and 
staff of the deceased bishop or abbot, and without further ado 
^' invested " with them a person of his own choice, whom he 
ordered to be elected by those who had the right. 



§222] EVILS IN THE CHURCH 237 

In practice, even this violent interference did not always work 
badly. Good rulers carefully selected their candidates and 
often succeeded in filling the sees of their territory with excellent 
bishops. But the principle was wrong in itself, and on the whole 
it had already done incalculable harm to the Church. 

221. Simony. — Simony is committed by buying, selling, 
or bartering for temporal goods any spiritual things or temporal 
things on account of the spiritual benefits annexed to them. This 
is the sin committed by Simon Magus, the Sorcerer, who offered 
money to St. Peter to buy from him the power of communicating 
to others the Holy Ghost (Acts of the Apostles, viii. 9-24). 
At the time of which we speak ecclesiastical positions chiefly 
were the "^ article " bought and sold. Lay-investiture greatly 
increased the evil. It was of course very tempting for a ruler 
to accept a present or a contribution for his empty exchequer 
with the understanding that the donor would be granted a rich 
bishopric or abbey. Similar to this was the promotion of sons 
or relatives to important ecclesiastical positions, the duties of 
which they were neither able nor willing to fulfill. While such 
criminal transactions were far from the minds of men like 
William the Conqueror or the German Ottos, other lords, high 
and low, who had ecclesiastical preferments within their 
power, often indulged in them very freely. In some royal courts 
bishoprics and abbeys were occasionally put up at auction and 
knocked down to the highest bidder. The prelates who had 
thus obtained their position would then sell the lower offices 
in the same scandalous manner. 

222. Nicolaitism was another evil, closely connected with 
the former two. From the beginning of Christianity deacons 
and higher ecclesiastics were strongly advised not to enter the 
state of matrimony, because the life of celibacy for God's sake is 
a closer imitation of Jesus Himself and His Virgin Mother; 
because it enables priests to live exclusively for their sacred 
duties ; and because it frees them from numerous worldly en- 



238 REFORMATORY MOVEMENTS [§223 

tanglements. About the end of the fourth century this had 
ceased to be merely a recommendation and had become a 
strict law in the whole West. But during the troubled period 
of the dissolution of Charlemagne's empire and the inroads of 
the Northmen, the ' general confusion of the times caused the 
law to be widely disregarded. It was a serious violation of 
ecclesiastical discipline. Worse than this, there were those who 
even taught that married life was better for the clergy, thus 
adding the crime of heresy (§ 235, note) to that of disobedience. 
All these transgressions were comprised under the term of 
Nicolaifism} They were never so general as to allow the law 
of celibacy to be forgotten entirely. 

As a rule ecclesiastics who did not scruple to buy their offices 
for money cared little for the law which enjoined on them a 
ceUbate life. They tried to provide their children with Church 
offices obtained through simony, and aimed to have their own 
sons as their successors. There was indeed ground for fear that 
ecclesiastical positions be reduced to the rank of hereditary fiefs. 

223. Evils Threatening the Election of the Popes. — In the 
earliest times the popes were elected much after the manner 
of the other bishops (§ 142). The act was performed by the 
clergy of Rome together with the prominent laymen and the 
people. Since the reign of the Emperor Justinian the Great 
(§ 63) the Byzantine emperors for some time claimed and 
exercised the right of approving the election before the elected 
could be recognized and crowned. This '' right " ceased of 
course after the establishment of the Papal States. Pippin the 
Short and Charlemagne did not influence the elections. But it 
appears that the Carolingian emperors obtained the privilege 
of having their envoy present at the consecration and in- 

1 In the first Christian centuries the Nicolaites formed a sect which taught 
that open immorality was pleasing to God. Its originator was a more or 
less fabulous Deacon Nicholas. (See Caih. Etu-yclopcdia, under Nicolaites.) 
In the Middle Ages the name Avas applied to those clerics who violated the 
law of celibacy. 



§224] REFORM POPES 239 

thronlzatlon of the pope-elect. The three Ottos went much 
farther. In some cases they proposed the person they expected 
to be elected. Yet the election itself was always considered 
essential, and without it no imperial candidate would have 
been recognized as pope. St. Henry II and Conrad II did not in- 
terfere in the elections, while Henry III, who found a rather cha- 
otic state of things in Rome, again made his influence strongly 
felt. The fact that he as well as the Ottos raised only worthy 
and able men to the papacy cannot excuse the principle itself. 
But whenever during these times the power of the northern 
emperors relaxed, there arose almost regularly that of Roman 
and Italian factions, which interfered with the elections generally 
in a much more detrimental way. Happily the principle of 
state interference was resisted at the moment when it threatened 
to produce the worst consequences. 

B. Reform Popes and Their Struggles 

224. Measures Against Simony and Nicolaitism. — One 
of the most influential elements for a thorough reforma- 
tion of the Church was the Congregation of Cluny (§ 150). 
Many were the bishops and other prelates that had been taken 
from the ranks of these zealous monks or were at least under 
their spiritual guidance. They and the monks themselves 
worked everywhere for the purity of the clerical state. They 
disseminated correct ideas and advocated correct practices and 
virtuous living among all they could reach. 

The first among the so-called reform-popes is St. Leo IX 
(1048-1054), who for several years traveled through France 
and Germany, expelling unworthy bishops and priests from 
office. Victor II arranged with Emperor Henry III, his cousin, 
for a worldwide campaign against simony and Nicolaitism, 
but both died before these plans could be carried into execution. 
The succeeding pontiffs were by no means neglectful of their 
duty ; but nobody undertook the struggle with such vigor 



240 REFORMATORY MOVEMENTS [§225 

as the great Gregory VII (see below). He appealed directly 
to the laity, forbidding them to hear the Masses or admit the 
ministrations of priests who openly defied the laws of the Church. 
When this intrepid champion of the purity and liberty of the 
Church died in exile, the power of both these evils was broken, 
never to revive in the same frightful and threatening degree. 
But before this, another important law was enacted. 

225. Law Concerning Papal Elections. — After the death of 
the stern Henry III, the unruly elements in Rome raised their 
head again, and as usual caused difficulties for the papal elec- 
tions. Under such circumstances Nicholas II ascended the 
Chair of St. Peter. He was determined to put an end to all 
undue interference. A new law confined the choice of the pope 
to the cardinal-bishops, that is, the bishops of certain towns in 
the immediate neighborhood of Rome.^ The other cardinals, 
the lower clergy, and the laity were allowed merely to express by 
acclamation their consent to the accomplished election. 

It should be remarked that the occasion of this incisive regu- 
lation was chiefly the violence shown by the Roman factions 
during late years. But it was equally designed to exclude all 
imperial meddling as well. However, it reserved expressly the 
rights which had been lawfully granted or were to be granted 
to the Roman king or emperor personally. The decree was 
strongly resented beyond the Alps. But there it was eventually 
more or less lost sight of in the great contest which affected 
the rulers nearer home. 

226. The Law Against Lay-Investiture. — In 1073 Cardinal 
Hildebrand was elected to the papacy. He assumed the name 
of Gregory VI I. Hildebrand, an Itahan of German extraction, 
was a Benedictine monk of the Congregation of Cluny. Under 
several popes he had been the soul of the government of the 
Church. No one knew better than he the needs of the Church ; 
no one had given so much thought to the questi on as to ho w her 

1 Later this law was changed so as to admit all the cardinals to the election. 



§227] THE CONTEST ABOUT LAY-INVESTITURE 241 

difficulties might be remedied. In 1075 he solemnly pro- 
hibited lay-investiture, threatening with excommunication any 
layman that would presume to perform it and any ecclesiastic 
that would submit to it. This law concerned all countries. 
There was some opposition everywhere. But it nowhere reached 
the violence with which the powerful kings of England and Ger- 
many resisted it. 

227. The Contest about Lay-Investiture in Germany. — 
Henry IV soon was at variance with the Saxons, among whom 
he generally resided. By all known means of force and fraud 
and broken promises he crushed their several rebellions against 
his tyranny, and punished their leaders with the most brutal 
cruelty. They were his principal but by no means his only 
enemies in the kingdom. His court was a real hotbed of simony, 
where a lucrative traffic was going on in sacred offices. When- 
ever he was hard pressed by his enemies, he listened to the 
voice of the pope and his own conscience ; when the danger 
was over, he returned to his former habits of luxury, tyranny, and 
oppression of the Church. 

Henry IV was engaged in wreaking barbarous vengeance 
upon the Saxons when the new decree was promulgated. He 
defied Pope Gregory's law and continued in his practice of lay- 
investiture and all the scandalous manipulations connected 
with it. The Saxons appealed to Gregory VII for help against 
the tyrant. The pope now summoned the king to Rome to 
answer to the charges made against him. Henry retorted by 
calling a sham synod of German bishops and abbots, which 
declared Gregory deposed, and he himself addressed to 'the 
pope an insulting communication. The great majority of the 
bishops almost at once sent to the pope a letter of confession, 
in which they pleaded fear of death as an excuse and asked for 
penances. The pope then in a Roman synod solemnly ex- 
communicated Henry IV, forbade him to act or appear as king 
and threatened him with final deposition unless he should be 



242 REFORMATORY MOVEMENTS [§228 

absolved from the excommunication within a specified time 
(§ 147). 

In Germany all those who sincerely sided with the pope in 
his contest for right and justice and the liberty of the Church now 
combined with the many who had been outraged by the despot. 
Soon the plan of electing another king was discussed. As 
the pope had not yet rejected Henry definitely, he tried to 
mediate. It is entirely due to his efforts and the untiring 
activity of his legates that the plan was not carried out. An 
agreement was reached between the three parties, the pope, 
the king, and the princes. Henry IV should appear in a diet 
at Augsburg, next Candlemas day, where the pope would 
listen to the grievances that might be urged against the king. 
There all disputes were to be settled, provided the king would 
give satisfaction to both pope and princes. Until then he was 
to live as a private man. 

228. Henry IV did not trust the justice of his cause. He 
desired by all means to appease the pope and thus to gain a 
better standing before the matter was to come before the princes. 
He set out for Italy in the dead of winter under the greatest 
hardships, and crossed the Alps. The pope had withdrawn to 
Canossa, a castle of the Countess Mathilda of Tuscany. Here 
in 1077 took place the famous meeting of pope and king. (It 
must be kept in mind that there were three parties to the 
compact, and that all three must cooperate in the final settle- 
ment.) For three days the king appeared before the castle 
gate and stood there from morning till night imploring absolu- 
tion from the ban. The pope was in a quandary. If he ab- 
solved him and restored him to his rights, he would break his 
promise to the German princes ; if he did not absolve him, he 
would incur the charge of cruelty. He at length took a middle 
course. He absolved him from the excommunication as far 
as he was a private Christian, but left him as it were under its 
civil effects. He was not to act or appear as king and remained 



§228] THE CONTEST ABOUT LAY-INVESTITURE 243 

obliged to present himself at the diet of Augsburg and to submit 
to the verdict which would be reached there. This the king 
promised to do. He was then absolved and admitted to Holy 
Communion at the pope's Mass. 

Henry IV's act was certainly a humiliation, but not an extraor- 
dinary one in those days. In the Ages of Faith public penance 
was of frequent occurrence and had nothing degrading attached 
to it. Men of high rank, kings included, submitted to it and 
lost nothing in the estimation of their subjects. Henry's 
penance, moreover, was self-imposed. The pope did not desire, 
much less demand it. The event, often represented as the 
triumph of a proud pope over a helpless king, was in reality an 
advantage won by Henry over his German adversaries. 

It is worth while to see how Gregory VII himself describes this 
memorable happening. The following extracts are taken from two of 
his letters, one of which he wrote to the German princes in order to 
prevent misunderstandings and misrepresentations. 

" Having laid aside all the belongings of royalty, wretchedly, with 
bare feet and clad in wool, he (the king) continued for three days to 
stand before the gate of the castle. Nor did he desist from imploring 
with many tears the aid of those who were present there, and whom 
the report of it had reached, to such pity and depth of compassion, 
that interceding for him with many prayers and tears, all wondered 
indeed at the unwonted hardness of our heart, while some actually 
cried out that we were exercising not the gravity of apostolic severity 
but the cruelty as it were of tyrannical ferocity. ... I seeing him 
humiUated, having received many promises from him concerning the 
bettering of his way of living, restored him to the Communion. But 
only that ; I did not reinstate him . . . that I might do justice in the 
matter or arrange peace between him and the bishops and princes 
beyond the Alps." (From Henderson, Select Historical Documents of 
the Middle Ages.) 

There is no reason to doubt the sincerity of Henry IV in 
making his peace with the pope. But the good resolutions did 
not last long. Hardly had he left Canossa, when the numerous 
simonistic bishops of Lombardy surrounded him and by flatteries 



244 REFORMATORY MOVEMENTS [§229 

and threats of rebellion undid the work of Gregory VII. The 
vacillating king again disregarded his duty. As soon as this 
became known in Germany, his numerous adversaries made 
good their threat and chose another king, Rudolph, Duke of 
Suabia. After further attempts to restore unity Gregory at 
last excommunicated Henry again and recognized Rudolph as 
Roman King. Germany was torn by civil war. Rudolph, in- 
deed, soon fell in a battle. But under the plea of zeal for the 
Church Henry's own sons claimed the throne and found ad- 
herents.^ 

The unfortunate Henry IV died while under the public excommuni- 
cation. He was not buried in consecrated ground, until it was learned, 
five years later, that before his death he had desired to be reconciled 
with the pope. His son Henry V, who had so far feigned fidelity to the 
Church, continued the policy of his father with greater violence. Pope 
Paschal II, high-minded and generous, but better versed in spiritual 
matters than in secular diplomacy, was no match for the unscrupulous 
Henry and suffered the utmost humihation at his hands. 

229. The contest about lay-investiture was finished, after 
nearly fifty years, by a concordat concluded in the city of Worms? 
Pope Calixtus II granted that the election of the bishops might 
take place in the king's presence but without simony. The 
prelate was to be invested with the temporalities of his see by 
means of a scepter. This certainly did away with the danger 
of a wrong interpretation of the ceremony, because the scepter 
does in no way denote spiritual power. The influence which 
this arrangement left to the monarch did not necessarily interfere 

1 Henry IV was never crowned except by an antipope whom he had 
intruded into the See of Peter. He has therefore no claim to the imperial 
title. Some writers call him emperor, because they erroneously hold that the 
coronation was not essential. (See § 202.) Others do so by a kind of habit, 
because nearly all the German rulers of the time rightfully bore that title 
and all without exception were elected with a view of obtaining it by a lawful 
coronation. 

2 A concordat is an agreement, concerning ecclesiastical affairs, between 
the pope and a secular ruler. 



§231] INNOCENT III 245 

with the Hberty of election. It was thought to be excusable 
on account of the great importance of the ecclesiastical pos- 
sessions for the crown in Germany. 

230. The Contest about Lay-Investiture in England. — The 
decree against lay-investiture was published just nine years 
after William the Conqueror had won England. He simply 
refused to give up the evil practice. And since he selected his 
candidates with great care and promoted none but good men to 
ecclesiastical offices, Pope Gregory did not urge him any further. 
(See § 159.) But under his sons (§ 163) the inevitable clash 
came. William Rufus openly trafficked in spiritual offices, 
and of course clung to lay-investiture. While most of the 
bishops either submitted to, or at least did not oppose the 
tyrant, St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of 
England, became the champion of the rights of the Church. 
William drove him into exile. Under Henry I he returned, but 
was soon forced a second time to leave the country. The king 
relaxed, however, when threatened with excommunication by 
the pope. St. Anselm returned to England. In 1107 it was 
agreed that there should be no investiture of ecclesiastics at all, 
but that the bishops should take an oath of fidelity for their 
feudal possessions. The elections were to take place in the 
king's palace. 

The happy conclusion of the fierce struggle did not, in fact, prevent 
all royal interference with the Hberty of the elections. Unscrupulous 
rulers, high and low, found other means to get their candidates into 
ecclesiastical positions. The papacy was not excluded. Charles of 
Anjou, for instance, brought about the election of his pope by the in- 
carceration of two cardinals who would have opposed him. (See also 
§ 208.) 

For Further Reading. Guggenberger, I, §§ 373-399; 400-409. 
Robinson, Readings, I, pp. 266 ff. 

231. Innocent III, 1198-1216, is considered the greatest of 
the " Reform Popes." It will be instructive to gain some idea 



246 REFORMATORY MOVEMENTS ' [§231 

of his activity, though in a book Hke this we must be satisfied 
with a mere enumeration of a few of his achievements. He was 
elected after the death of Henry VI and ruled the Church for 
eighteen years. His first care was to do away with a number of 
abuses in the papal court itself. He then restored the temporal 
sovereignty of the Holy See in its own domains. He inaugu- 
rated and organized the Fourth Crusade (§ 244). His en- 
deavors concerning Germany and Italy have been alluded 
to in § 212 if. He resisted the despotism of John Lackland 
(§ 177), defending at the same time the justly acquired rights of 
the Apostolic See.^ Ecclesiastical penalties forced the mighty 
king of France, Philip II, Augustus (§ 147), to reconcile himself 
with his lawful wife whom he had divorced with the consent of 
the French bishops and kept imprisoned for years. The pope 
tried, though not with complete success, to stop a cruel war 
between the kings of France and England. He annulled the 
marriage of King Alfonso of Leon in Spain with a near relative 
and for the same reason that of the king of Portugal. At the 
same time he reconciled three kings in the Pyrenean Peninsula, 
brought about a Spanish crusade against the Moors and saw 
their power broken forever in the battle of Navas de Tolosa, 
1212. In Norway he protected the people against the tyranny 
of their king, and then prevented civil wars in Norway as well 
as in Sweden by arbitrating between crown pretenders. He 
protected King Emeric of Hungary in his just rights, but opposed 
his despotic methods of government. He restored ecclesiastical 
discipline in Poland, reunited far-off Armenia with the Catholic 
Church, and settled religious and crown disputes in Bulgaria. 

His private life was a series of acts of piety, humility, and 
charity. His needs were very few, while he always had money 
for pious and charitable purposes. In Rome he established a 
large and well-appointed hospital. Thus he started a real 
hospital movement. His Roman hospital became the model of 
1 See Guggenberger, I, §§ 538-545. 



§232] THE MENDICANT ORDERS 247 

innumerable others. In consequence of the pope's action, more 
than eighty hospitals are known to have been erected in Ger- 
many alone. ^ The most important and most brilliant event 
in his pontificate was the General Council of the Lateran, held 
in 1215. Among other momentous decrees it stated the duty of 
every Christian to receive at least once a year the Sacrament 
of Penance and receive Holy Communion during Easter time. 
Innocent III gave the first official encouragement to the rising 
new religious Orders of the Mendicant Friars. 

C The Mendicant Orders 

232. Character of the Mendicant Orders. — At the beginning 
of the thirteenth century there existed a great and ever growing 
prosperity all over Western Europe. In many quarters it was 
accompanied by a decrease in morality. Together with greed 
and avarice went a general luxury and dissipation among 
the higher classes which rendered the condition of the poor 
more helpless and degrading. The clergy did not keep entirely 
free from these evils. The number of worldly-minded eccle- 
siastics lent color to violent accusations against bishops and 
priests. 

One of the most striking acts of Divine Providence was the 
establishment of a new kind of religious Order, called the 
Mendicants, from the Latin mendicare, to beg. Our forefathers 
styled their members Friars, from the Latin f rater, brother. In 
the older Orders the unit was the individual house. Though a 
monk was privately poor (§ 60), the house was supposed to 
possess property. Self-sanctification was their aim. Hence 
monastic institutions were originally located in places far remote 
from the turmoil of the world, on hilltops or in solitary valleys. 
In the new Orders the unit was the whole organization, 
ruled by one general superior, or a " province " consisting of 

1 See J. J. Walsh, The Popes and Science, pp. 248 ff. 



248 REFORMATORY MOVEMENTS [§233 

several houses, the members of which might be' sent from 
place to place as conditions required. The houses were to 
subsist entirely on alms, hence their name. Besides the spiritual 
perfection of the individual members there was a second pur- 
pose ; namely, preaching and other priestly and spiritual 
ministrations. This made it necessary to locate the residences 
near the people in villages and cities. 

The principal mendicant Orders are the Franciscans and 
Dominicans. 

233. The Franciscans. — When St. Francis of Assisi heard 
the words of the Gospel, " do not possess money in your purses, 
nor scrip for your journeys, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a 
staff," he resolved to carry them out literally. He chose the 
" Lady Poverty " for his spouse. Soon enthusiastic companions 
gathered around him, with whom he began to preach, chiefly 
to the poor and wretched. This was the beginning of the 
Franciscan Order. It was solemnly approved in 1223 and spread 
rapidly. Its influence has been wonderful. The friars alle- 
viated the misery of the poor, the sick and forsaken, and taught 
them by their example and by pointing to the poverty of Jesus 
Christ to accept their condition with resignation, if not with 
joy. Many of the higher classes joined the devoted followers 
of the " poor man of Assisi," and all learned not to look with 
contempt upon the lowly, and to make a Christian use of the 
possessions God had granted them. Very large is the number 
of prominent men and women who desired at least to be buried 
in the humble garb of St. Francis. " St. Francis and his 
companions," says the author of an excellent work on political 
economy, " have roused in millions of souls the love of poverty, 
simplicity, and contentedness, in a society which threatened 
to succumb to the dangers of avarice and greed." Though 
chiefly devoted to humbler pursuits, the Order has given tb the 
Church many learned and otherwise prominent men. 

St. Francis encouraged a young lady of Assisi, St. Clare, 



§234] THE MENDICANT ORDERS 249 

to become under his direction the foundress of an Order of 
women, the " Poor Clares." They follow a life of great strict- 
ness and seclusion from the world. The many communities of 
Franciscan Sisters which labor so successfully in the fields of 
education and charity are institutions of later date. 

234. The Dominicans. — After making brilliant studies, St. 
Dominic, a Spaniard, accompanied his bishop on a journey 
through southern France. When passing through the districts 
infested by the Albigensian heresy (§ 193) he noticed that the 
preachers who tried to convert them indulged too much in the 
outward display of pomp, while the leaders of the heretics were 
known for their abstemious life. This suggested to him the idea 
of a new Order, which would combine the austerities of the older 
communities with learning sufficient to refute and bring back 
to the Church the Albigensians and other heretics. The Domini- 
can Order, therefore, besides practicing poverty in a style 
similar to that of the Franciscans, makes preaching and teach- 
ing and the pursuit of learned studies its peculiar end. The 
Order was approved in 1216 and extended very rapidly. It has 
done great service to the Church in every sphere of piety and 
charity and above all in combating heresies by means of example 
and instruction. The " Prince of the Christian Schools," St. 
Thomas Aquinas (§ 274), belonged to the sons of St. Dominic. 

St. Dominic, too, founded an Order of women. The Do- 
minican Nuns are bound to an active life of industry and educa- 
tional work. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES 

A. The Christian and the Mohammedan Orient 

235. The Christian Orient : The Byzantine Empire. — To 

the description of Byzantine culture given in § 94 should be 
added mention of the endless number of court intrigues and 
.palace revolutions with their revolting cruelties.^ After Charle- 
magne's time the empire constantly diminished in size. Pales- 
tine, Syria, Egypt, and Northern Africa had been lost in the 
first onrush of the Mohammedans (§ 72). Slav nations were 
encroaching from the North upon the European provinces, 
until about a.d. 1000 the Bulgarian kingdom succumbed to the 
emperor Basil II. Armenia and Cilicia, too, were reconquered. 
But soon after, all Asia Minor was torn away by the Turks, 
and the remnant of the Byzantine possessions in Italy by the 
Normans (§ 211). 

The saddest event, however, was the Great Eastern Schism.^ 
Since 451 the bishops of Constantinople had assumed the title of 
patriarchs (§41, note), which the popes accorded to them after 
long hesitation. Though there were among them many eminent 

iSee Guggenberger, I, §§ 161-164. §§ 420-435 refer to this and fol- 
lowing sections on the Orient. 

2 A schism is the separation of a community, parish, diocese, etc., from 
the unity of the Church by defying the lawful authority. Heresy is a much 
greater crime. It consists in the denial of some doctrine which is evidently 
revealed by God, as the necessity of baptism. It denies the veracity of 
God Himself. Disrespectful or scandalous utterances concerning matters of 
Faith, though always sinful, are not necessarily heresies. Schism and heresy 
are often combined, as in the case of the Eastern Schism. 

250 



252 THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES [§235 

and saintly men, others openly championed heresies, or showed 
too great a subserviency to the emperors. The contempt with 
which the East now looked down upon the entire West including 
Rome, and the ignorance of Latin in the East and of Greek in 
the West, helped considerably to widen the breach between the 
two parts of Christianity. For several hundred years, however, 
the schisms caused under these circumstances through the pride 
of either emperor or patriarch had been short-lived. But in 
1043 the arrogant Patriarch Caerularius again fell away, and 
this time the split remained unhealed. He aspired to be the 
head of the whole Church. The transfer of the secular capital 
to Constantinople, he maintained, drew with it the spiritual 
supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, who besides, he asserted, had 
fallen into grievous dogmatical errors. This schism at first 
did not extend farther than the empire itself. But in the course 
of several centuries the rest of the Eastern patriarchates, in- 
cluding the Russian Church, one after the other severed their 
connection with the Chair of Peter. ^ 

The schism completed the estrangement between the East and 
the West. It partly accounts for the little sympathy which was 
extended to the Western crusaders in their struggle against the 
common foe of Christianity. 

Materially and intellectually, however, the Eastern empire, 
though so much reduced in size, remained the most civilized 
part of the world. ^ Were we transferred into those distant 
times, nowhere should we find so near an approach to the 
methods of our own city and state administration, our police 
system, our own institutions of learning and of public and pri- 
vate charit}^ And notwithstanding its weakness and losses 
the empire had so far fulfilled its mission of keepi7ig the Mohamme- 
dans Old of Europe and checking the advance of the semi-barbarous 
nations which inhabited the northern coasts of the Black Sea. 

1 See "Eastern Churches," in Vol. IV of History of Religions. 

2 See Robinson, Readings, I, p. 340. 



236] 



THE ORIENT 



253 



236. The Mohammedan Orient.^ — Soon after the death of 
the Prophet rehgious dissensions rent the unity of the Moham- 
medan world. The Sunnites admitted, as a rule of their faith, 
besides the Koran (§ 71), an oral tradition which the Shiahs 
rejected. The latter did not recognize the Caliph of Bagdad 
as the legitimate successor of Mohammed. They set up another 
Caliphate under the *' Fatimites " in Egypt and Northern 
Africa with the new city of Cairo as capital. 
Their power often extended far into Asia. 

Meanwhile the power of the Caliphs of 
Bagdad (§ 73) passed to the Seljuk Turks. 

The homes of this ^Turanian nation were the 
plains east of the Caspian Sea, around the rivers 
Oxus and Jaxartes, where they lived divided into 
many separate tribes. The Caliphs of Bagdad 
began to form a bodyguard of Turkish slaves and 
captives. Like the pretorians of old Rome, this 
guard, called Mamelukes, soon became the real 
power in the empire, and made and unmade ca- 
liphs at will. Its commanders became the actual 
rulers, while the caliph remained a kind of religious 
figure-head. One of the caliphs, thinking he could 
drive out one devil by another, called in a powerful Turkish chief, a 
grandson of Seljuk. But it did not change matters. It simply put the 
Seljuk Turks in place of the former masters. The Seljuk Sultans, as 
the real heads of the Bagdad Caliphate, at once started a career of con- 
quest and made themselves masters of the whole of Asia Minor. But 
the vast territory soon broke up into several Sultanates and Emirates. 

There existed, therefore, toward the end of the eleventh cen- 
tury, the following Mohammedan powers : In Spain the ever 
diminishing Caliphate of Cordova; in Egypt and Northern 
Africa the Caliphate of the Fatimites ; in Asia the Caliphate of 
Bagdad, ruled in name by the Caliphs, in reality by the Seljuk 
Turks, and divided into several minor states. 

1 See Guggenberger, I, §§431-435. Newman (Card.), Historical Sketches, 
Vol. I, contains material for reports on the Turks. 




Moorish Vase. 



254 



THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES 



[§236 




Court of Lions, Alhambra. 



§237] THE CRUSADES 255 

During these religious and political changes intellectual and 
material civilization of the Arabian dominions remained on the 
whole as it had been before. Even some of the Turkish rulers 
of this period did much to encourage it. Unspeakable cruelties 
against Christians and other enemies, however, disgrace the 
records of the Mohammedan wars. 

With the vigor of a young race the Turks renewed the onslaught of 
Mohammedanism upon the religion of the Cross and its professors. 
They proved in the course of time confirmed enemies of civilization. 
Though their rich and prominent men might enjoy all the achievements 
of culture, the countries ruled by them were the very opposite of 
civilized. Much more than the Arabs were they subject to the adverse 
influences of Islam (§§ 71, 74). It was under their " administration " 
that the once flourishing cities of Asia became heaps of ruins or at best 
conglomerations of squalid hovels. 

B. The Crusades 

237. Origin and Nature.^ — The scenes of the sufferings, 
death, and resurrection of Our Lord had always been the most 
cherished goal of pilgrimages (§ 148). Undaunted by the 
hardships of the long journey, and their ignorance of countries 
and languages, thousands set out from all parts of Western 
Europe. The conquest of Palestine by the first caliphs (§ 72) 
rendered these pious journeys more difficult, as the pilgrims were 
now obliged to pay a fee for admission to the city. But condi- 
tions became much worse when, in 969, the Fatimite Caliphs of 
Egypt became the masters of the Holy Land. The Church of 
the Holy Sepulcher and countless other churches were de- 
stroyed. In 1076 the Seljuk Turks conquered Jerusalem from 
the Fatimites, subjected the native Christians to unheard of vex- 
ations, and replaced the pilgrims' tax by a system of robbery and 
extortion. By hundreds and thousands the pilgrims went to 
Palestine and returned by units and tens to spread the tale of 
the miseries they had witnessed. Their sad reports brought 
1 See Guggenberger, I, §§ 436-443. 



256 THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES [§ 237 

home to all Christians the shame and humiliation of seeing 
their most holy places in the power of the infidel. 

It seems that Pope Gregory VII (§§ 225 ff.) was the first to 
conceive the idea of a military expedition for the purpose of 
ending both the degradation of the Holy Land and the suffer- 
ings of the Christians. In 1095 his successor, Urban II, took 
this matter vigorously in hand. In a Council held at Cler- 
mont he appealed to all the Christian nations and rulers to 
combine in a great undertaking, an armed pilgrimage. His elo- 
quence thrilled the multitudes with holy enthusiasm, and spon- 
taneously from the listening crowds rose the cry, ' ' God wills it ! 
God wills it I " This became the rallying cry for the sacred 
wars. Wandering preachers roused the population of the more 
distant lands. Those who pledged themselves to the expedi- 
tion fastened a cross upon their breast — hence the names Cru- 
sader (cross-bearer) and Crusade. Thousands and hundreds of 
thousands took the cross. Thus began a movement of truly gigan- 
tic proportions, the like of which the world has never seen. For 
two hundred years army upon army of pious volunteers traveled 
to a far distant land, underwent incredible hardships and faced 
an almost certain death, from the noblest and most unselfish 
motives. They were prompted by the desire to do penance 
for their sins, and by other pious considerations, but the main- 
spring of their enthusiasm was their warm personal devotion 
to Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind, the King of Kings. 

True, some crusaders went merely in a spirit of military ardor, 
or to gain temporal possessions in the land they hoped to con- 
quer.^ Even baser promptings were not absent. None the less 
the real cause of the crusades was religious zeal. They were 
real ''Wars of the Cross." The grosser motives helped to rally 
recruits around a banner which religious enthusiasm had set up. 

1 This motive appealed strongly to France, which unlike Germany had 
no outlet for the increasing number of her inhabitants. In England the 
Danish and other internal wars had prevented overpopulation. 



§238] THE FIRST CRUSADE 257 

The crusaders enjoyed many ecclesiastical privileges. From 
the moment a man had taken the cross, the Church forbade 
under pain of excommunication all attacks, even by law, upon 
his person or property, until he had returned home. She also 
granted him what would now be called a plenary indulgence, 
provided he would keep his vow or die in fulfilling it.^ 

The crusades were one continuous movement. This armed 
migration went on uninterruptedly for two centuries, from 
about 1100 to 1300 a.d. The Seven or Eight Crusades 
commonly distinguished by historians were merely the highest 
waves of the incessant flood. 

238. The First Crusade. — From nearly all parts of Christen- 
dom crusaders flocked together, but chiefly from Northern 
France and Southern Italy. None of the Christian kings of 
Europe,^ but a number of prominent vassal princes joined this 
crusade. The most renowned of them is Godfrey of Bouillon, 
Duke of Lower Lorraine. A papal legate supplied in some 
measure the lack of centralization in the command. 

While the princes were still making their preparations, an innumerable 
host of peasants and similar people, impatient of waiting longer, started 
without any organization or arrangement for provisions. Peter the 
Hermit and a knight, Walter the Penniless, acted as their leaders. 
This unfortunate, disorderly horde soon found itself devoid of the very 
necessaries of life and plundered friend and foe alike. A small remnant 
arrived in Asia Minor and fell an easy prey to the Turks. 

A multitude of more than three hundred thousand, the 
chroniclers report, set out with the princes in the spring of 
1096. The Greek emperor, who had himself been imploring 

1 Nevertheless the crusaders who fell in a battle were not martyrs in the 
ecclesiastical sense of the word. Those only are true martyrs who when 
completely helpless choose death rather than apostasy. 

2 It is evident that neither Henry IV of Germany nor William Rufus of 
England were apt to become enthusiastic for so unselfish a project as the 
crusades ( §§ 227-230) . Philip I of France was not much better but shrewder 
than both. (Guggenberger, 1, § 390.) 



258 



THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES 



[§239 




the pope for help, now that the crusaders arrived in his do- 
minions, gave them httle assistance. But they overcame the 
Turkish army which opposed their advance in Asia Minor. 
During their further march their numbers were considerably 
reduced by want of every kind. Still they conquered Edessa, 
beyond the Euphrates, and invested the strongly fortified city 
of Antioch. Some of the memorable events 
connected with the siege are told below in 
a crusader's own words. 

The following year they took Jerusalem 
after a desperate resistance on the part of 
the Mohammedans. Godfrey was the first 
of the princes to leap from his siege tower 
upon the walls of the city. Now followed 
scenes which will ever remain a disgrace to 
the crusaders. Incensed by the fierce re- 
sistance and probably fearing new dangers, 
they put to death the whole garrison and 
nearly all the Mohammedan inhabitants. 
But three days later, clad in white garments, 
they went in solemn procession to the 
Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the other sacred places of 
Jerusalem. 

239. As a result of this crusade the Greek Empire was enabled 
to reconquer a great part of Asia Minor. The crusaders erected 
the country of Palestine into a Kingdom of Jerusalem, and 
elected as their king their most popular and best beloved hero, 
Godfrey of Bouillon. But Godfrey refused to wear a royal 
diadem in a place where Jesus Christ had worn a crown of 
thorns, and styled himself Protector of the Holy Sepulcher. 
His worthy brother and successor, Baldwin, admitted the royal 
title. Several smaller " Latin " states were formed along the 
coast and beyond the Euphrates as fiefs of the Kingdom of 
Jerusalem. (See map.) The crusaders knew of no system of 



A Crusader. — From 
a thirteenth-century 
manuscript, now in 
the British Museum, 
London. 



§ 239] 



THE FIRST CRUSADE 



259 




260 THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES [§240 

government except Feudalism. So each ruler divided his hinds 
in feudal fashion among his followers who cared to remain in 
Palestine. Churches, monasteries, and other Catholic 
memorials soon marked all the spots which are sanctified by 
Our Lord's life and actions. French became the language 
of the Christian settlers, who, however, were confined to the 
larger places. The open country remained, for the most part, 
in the power of hostile ^lohammedans, and traveling was very 
unsafe. 

240. The Knightly Orders. — The " Latin States " possessed 
rather precarious resources. Their existence depended on the 
influx of new volunteers from the West of Europe. Nor did 
the rulers themselves always act in unison with one another. 
The never failing fertility of the Church, in particular tln-ough 
the religious Orders, came to the rescue. In 1118, a hundred 
years before the foundation of the INIendicant Orders, nine 
French knights banded together for the purpose of escorting' 
pilgrims on their journeys to the Holy Places. This pious band 
soon grew^ into a new organization with the three religious 
vows. As their special purpose they proposed the defense of the 
Holy Land. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the greatest men 
of the century, wrote their constitutions. The new Order con- 
sisted of knights, who did the fighting and formed the ruling 
powTr in the Order. By them and from among them was 
elected the Grand-Blaster. They were assisted by subordinate 
" Brothers," who might be employed for the same purpose or 
for attending to domestic affairs ; and by priests, who looked 
after the spiritual needs of all the members. From the first 
of their houses, which was located on the site of the temple of 
Solomon, they received the name of Knights Templar. Their 
establishments combined the characteristics of monasteries and 
fortresses. 

About the same time pilgrims from Amalfi in Italy founded a 
hospital in Jerusalem in honor of St. John the Baptist for the 



§241] THE KNIGHTLY ORDP^RS 261 

benefit of such of their fellow citizeas as might come to 
Jerusalem. This institution, too, grew into a religious Order 
with the purpose of caring for sick pilgrims, protecting pious 
travelers and fighting for the defense of the Holy Land. It 
was known as the Knights of St. John or Knights Hospitalers. 
Its organization was similar to that of the Templars.^ Without 
these mighty societies it may be truly said the power of the 
Cross in the East would have come to an end very soon. These 
devoted men, who had renouncf^l all earthly ambition, supplied 
much of the fighting force which was necessary to maintain, 
in the absence of a numerous influx of crusaders, the hold of 
the West upon these distant countries. 

In 1197 a third knightly Order was approved by the pope. 
It was organized in the same fashion, but was restricted in the 
admission of members to knights of German origin. This 
Order of the '* Brethren of the German Hospital of Our Lady 
of Jerusalem," later on called either St. Mary's Knights, or 
Teutonic Knights, rendered a service to the Church and civili- 
zation which at the time of its institution could not have been 
foreseen (§ 247). 

241. The crusaders were almost always forced to fight against 
vastly superior numbers. Next to Divine Providence their 
victory is due to their incredible bravery and boldness. Greater 
daring and prowess and more display of physical strength and 
skill the world probably has never seen. The well-deserved 
renown of invincible valor contributed largely to the relative 
security of the Christian conquests. 

Some letters from the crusaders give curious and interesting 
side lights on their motives and feelings. One of the leaders was 
Stephen, Count of Blois, who had married a daughter of William the 

1 The present Knights of St. John, who are organized in so many Catholic 
parishes and greatly help in fostering Catholic enthusiasm, are not connected 
with the ancient Order. Much less have the Knights Templar of to-day, a 
prohibited society, anything to do with the Knights Templar of cmsading 
fame. 



262 



THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES 



[§241 



Conqueror and was the father of the young prince afterward known 
as King Stephen of England (§ 164). In 1098, from before Antioch, 
Stephen sent to his " sweetest and most amiable wife " the following 
letter : — 

" You may be sure, dearest, that my messenger leaves me before 
Antioch safe and unharmed, through God's grace. . . . We have been 
advancing continuously for twenty-three weeks toward the home of our 
Lord Jesus [since leaving Constantinople]. You may know for certain, 
my beloved, that I have now twice as much of gold and silver and of 
many other kinds of riches as when I left you. . . . You must have 
heard that, after the capture of Nicea, we fought a great battle with the 

perfidious Turks, and by God's aid, con- 
quered them. . . . Thence, continu- 
ally pursuing the wicked Turks, we 
drove them as far as the great river 
Euphrates. . . . The bolder of them 
hastened by forced marches, night and 
day, in order to be able to enter the 
royal city of Antioch before our ap- 
proach. The whole army of God, learn- 
ing this, gave due praise and thanks to 
the omnipotent Lord. Hastening with 
great joy to Antioch, we besieged it, 
and very often had many conflicts with 
the Turks, and seven times with the 
citizens of Antioch, and with the in- 
numerable troops coming to its aid. 
In all these seven battles, by the aid of the Lord God, we conquered, 
and most assuredly killed a vast host of them. Many of our brethren 
and followers were killed also, and their souls were borne to the joys of 
Paradise. 

" By God's grace we here endured many sufferings and countless 
evils up to the present time. Many have already exhausted all their 
resources in this very holy passion. Before the city of Antioch, through- 
out the whole winter, we suffered for our Lord Christ from excessive 
cold and from enormous torrents of rain. What some say about the 
impossibility of bearing the heat of the sun throughout Syria is untrue^ 
for the winter there is very like our winter in the West. 

" When the emir of Antioch — that is, its prince and lord — perceived 
that he was hard pressed by us, he sent his son to the prince who holds 
Jerusalem, and to the prince of Damascus, and to three other princes. 




Crusaders on the March. 
Old representation. 



§243] THE THIRD CRUSADE 263 

These five emirs, with 12,000 picked Turkish horsemen, suddenly came 
to aid the inhabitants of Antioch. We, ignorant of all this, had sent 
many of our soldiers away to the cities and fortresses ; for there are 165 
cities and fortresses throughout Syria which are in our power. But a 
little before they reached the city, we attacked them at three leagues' 
distance with 700 soldiers. God fought for us. His faithful. On that 
day we conquered them and killed an innumerable multitude ; and we 
carried back to the army more than two hundred of their heads, in order 
that the people might rejoice on that account. 

" These which I write you are only a few things, dearest, of the many 
which we have done. And because I am not able to tell you, dearest, 
what is in my mind, I charge you to do right, to watch over your land 
carefully, to do your duty as you ought to your children and your 
vassals. . . ." 

242. The Second Crusade. — In 1147 Europe was alarmed 
by the fall of Edessa, the farthest outpost of the Christian 
power. Pope Eugene III at once called upon all the Christians 
for a second great effort on behalf of the Holy Land. He 
commissioned St. Bernard (§ 150) to preach a new crusade.^ 
Conrad III, Roman King (§ 208), and Louis VII of France put 
themselves at the head of immense forces. But the grand 
enterprise failed, partly from bad generalship, partly from dissen- 
sions among the crusaders. Nevertheless the number of warriors 
who thus reached Palestine was of considerable assistance to the 
Latin states. 

243. The Third Crusade. — Another Turkish power had mean- 
while arisen from among the parts of the Seljuk Dominions 
(§ 236). Its chief representative was the redoubtable Saladin. 
Province upon province he tore away from the hands of the 
Christian defenders. Finally, in 1187 the incredible happened : 
he entered the Holy City as conqueror. All Christendom was 

1 When the great preacher entered the cathedral of Speyer, the Salve 
Regina was being chanted. Deeply moved by the devotion of the immense 
crowd he is said to have added the words, " O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo 
Maria" (O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary) which have remained 
attached to the beautiful prayer. They were engraved on the pavement of 
the Speyer cathedral. (See picture on p. 164.) 



264 THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES [§244 

staggered. The three greatest potentates of Europe, Emperor 
Frederick Barbarossa, Kings Philip II of France, and Richard I 
the Lion- Hearted of England arranged a third crusade (§§ 209, 
192, 176). It was much better organized than either the first 
or second. The severest loss of this crusade was the death of 
the great emperor, whose enthusiasm and military experience 
had much to do with the initial successes. The two kings soon 
fell to quarreling. Philip was the first to return home. Yet 
the crusade was far from fruitless. Richard and Philip, com- 
bining their forces for a time, had reconquered the important 
coast fortress of Acre. Richard the Lion-Hearted filled the 
Orient with the terror of his name. Though his brilliant ex- 
ploits did not lead to the recovery of Jerusalem, he secured other 
advantages. It is to his credit that the whole coast line was 
returned to the Christians and strongly fortified, and that 
free access was guaranteed to the Holy Sepulcher. 

" On one occasion, near Emmaus, he (Richard) attacked single- 
handed a horde of Turks, slew twenty and chased the rest before him. 
With only fifty knights he scattered another large army at Jaffa. 
Saladin himself fled before him like a hunted hare." Guggenberger, 
I, § 514. 

244. The Fourth Crusade ; the Latin Empire at Constan- 
tinople. — Contrary to their vow the leaders of this crusade 
went to the assistance of a dethroned emperor at Constantinople. 
Another usurper, however, repudiated the treaty with the 
crusaders and attacked them treacherously. The crusaders 
without much ado took the city by storm, deposed the emperor, 
and replaced the Greek by a " Latin Empire." The Greek 
schismatic empire could lay no claim to the gratitude of Western 
Christianity at this period. But Pope Innocent III, who had 
inaugurated the crusade, was very much exasperated by this 
conduct of the crusaders. Since, however, he could not undo 
what had been done, he recognized the new " Latin Empire." 
It was justly expected that Latin rulers in the city on the 



§244] 



THE FOURTH CRUSADE 



265 




Church of the Holy Sepulcher. — Present condition. — St. Helena, 
mother of Constantino the Great, built a splendid church over the Holy 
Places of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior (see Betten, 
Ancient World, § 676). It was destroyed by Chosroe (Chosrau) II, King 
of the Persians, in 602, and once more by the Mohammedans in 1010. 
The structure erected by the crusaders on a grand scale, suffered greatly 
by neglect and fires, but was restored to some extent during the nine- 
teenth century. 



266 



THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES 



[§245 



Bosphorus would be more in sympathy with the Christian enter- 
prises in the Orient. 

The Latin emperor did not receive the whole of the Greek 
realm. The mighty Republic of Venice occupied parts of the 
territory, chiefly coastal districts and islands. Other parts 
became vassal states of the new empire, while some remained 



THE lATlN EMPIRE 

AT 

Constantinople 

1204-1260 




Latin Empire and its dependencies "0/0^00^^ 



Greek States 



Latin-States in Syria ^ 



in the power of Greek monarchs. The Latin Empire labored 
under difficulties similar to those encountered by the Latin 
states in Asia. It lasted about half a century. In 1261 a Greek 
potentate reconquered Constantinople and restored Greek rule. 
The Venetians maintained themselves in most of their posses- 
sions, and some of the minor Latin states, also, survived to a 
later date. 

245. The Other Crusades. — Saladin had obtained possession of 
Egypt, where he displaced the Fatimite Caliphs (§ 236). His realm 



§245] THE OTHER CRUSADES 267 

included the lands from beyond the Euphrates as far as deep into Africa. 
But after his death it broke into several fragments, ruled from Damascus, 
Cairo, and other capitals. The title of Caliph was still held, at Bagdad, 
by the powerless successors of once mighty rulers. It was at this junc- 
ture that large crusading armies attempted to approach the reconquest 
of Palestine by securing Egypt. They conquered Damietta, but the 
fact that Emperor Frederick II, contrary to his solemn promises, failed 
to come to their aid caused them to lose a good opportunity to regain 
Jerusalem (§ 214). 

On account of the unquestionable advantages scored ten years later 
by this emperor some writers count his pleasure trip to the Holy Land 
as a separate crusade. In 1244 the last remnants of his gains were lost. 
In the same year St. Louis IX, King of France (§ 193), took a vow to enter 
upon a crusade, — a vow which he carried out in 1248-1254. He, too, 
at first, landed in Egypt. But after heroic deeds and great successes 
he was taken prisoner, compelled to pay a heavy ransom and to surrender 
all his conquests. He then betook himself to Syria. But in spite of his 
great personal qualities as general and as warrior he could achieve but 
little. Twenty years later, when an old man and unable to mount his 
horse without help, he again gathered an army for a crusade. This 
time he sailed to Tunis. The expedition resulted in the liberation of 
thousands of Christian captives. But the great king succumbed to a 
fever. " Jerusalem, Jerusalem " and 'Tnto Thy hands, O Lord, I 
commend my spirit," were his last words. In St. Louis died one of the 
grandest characters of his times, — one in whom were embodied most 
perfectly aU the qualities of the Christian knight, king, and crusader. 

This was the last great effort made to obtain possession of the Holy 
Land. The difficulties of maintaining the distant military colonies 
proved insurmountable. Although the popes did not give up the idea 
of a reconquest, the crusading spirit cooled down in Europe. People 
thought, too, that in some cases the name of crusade had been used for 
enterprises the purpose of which was less spiritual than secular. 

In 1291 Acre, the last stro'nghold of the Latins in Palestine, had to 
be abandoned. The only remnant of all the Latin possessions waS 
now the Kingdom of Cyprus, ruled by an old crusading family, which for 
three hundred years more withstood the' assaults of the Crescent. 

For Further Reading. — Chronicles of the Crusades (see book list). 
Robinson, Readings, I, pp. 312-345. Guggenberger, I, §§ 436-452; 
464r-467 ; 506-515 ; 521-530 ; 559-562 ; 576, 577 ; 580. 

Exercise. — Catchword review on the crusades. 



268 



THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES 



[§246 



246. Further History of the Knightly Orders. — '■ The Knights 
of St. John soon conquered, and held for two hundred years, 
the island of Rhodes, whence they were called the Rhodesian 
Knights. They were dislodged, after an heroic defense, in 
1522, by the Turks. In 1526 Emperor Charles V (§ 359 ff.) 
gave them the Island of Malta, and since this time they were 

known as the Knights of 
Malta. The loss of this 
island in 1798 to the 
French induced the insig- 
nificant remnant of the 
Order to take exclusively 
to works of charity, i.e. 
activity in hospitals in 
peace and war.^ 




The Knights Templar suf- 
fered a tragic end. Their 
vast possessions roused the 
jealousy and avarice of King 
Philip IV, the Fair, of France. 
This unworthy grandson of 
St. Louis spared no device of 
intrigue and violence to bring 
about a condemnation of the 
Order for heresy and im- 
morality. Pope Clement V, 
though himself a Frenchman 
and most anxious to please 
the French king, refused to 
go that far. Without con- 
demning the Order he decreed, in 1311, its dissolution. The accusations 
against the Order as such, though completely unfounded, had made 
the rounds of Europe and had undermined its good name. An organiza- 
tion thus slandered was not Hkely to be joined by young men of respect- 
able families. (§328.) 



Effigies of Knights Templar, — From 
funeral slabs in the Temple Church, 
London. The crossing of the legs in 
funeral sculpture indicated a crusader. 



1 See Th. Drane's History of the Knights of St. John. 
Siege of Rhodes. 



Special Report: 



§248] RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES 269 

247. Towards the close of the Crusades in the Orient the 
Teutonic Order finished a crusading enterprise against a pagan 
nation almost in the heart of Europe. Northwest of the lower 
Vistula lived the fierce Prussians, a Slavic race, akin to the 
Lithuanians farther east. They were given to a low kind of 
idolatry. Like the Saxons of old (§ 84) they admitted no mis- 
sionaries and harassed the neighboring countries incessantly. 
St. Adalbert, the " Apostle of the Prussians," and others paid 
with their lives for attempting to preach the Gospel to them. 
To end the devastations wrought by these barbarians, Duke 
Conrad of Masovia ^ invited the Teutonic Order to undertake 
the conquest and conversion of the Prussians. The conquest, 
carried on with varying success, required fifty-five years, 1228- 
1283. The Prussians fused entirely with the new settlers that 
arrived in the wake of the conquerors, and in the course of time 
the old Prussian language gave way to the German. For more 
than a hundred years Prussia, ruled by the Knights, was con- 
sidered the best governed country of Europe. It was a fief 
at once of the empire and of the papacy. A number of bishoprics 
under the Metropolitan See of Riga, and numerous monasteries 
of monks and friars, looked after the spiritual welfare of its 
inhabitants. The Knights extended their possessions along the 
whole southeastern coast of the Baltic, making this the largest 
ecclesiastical territory next to the Papal States. We shall be 
obliged to refer to it later on. 

C, Results of the Crusades 

248. Failure. — The purpose for which so many thousands 
sacrificed all that was dearest to them, the purpose for which 
the popes and countless unselfish persons had been laboring 
incessantly, was obtained only in a very imperfect way. For a 
brief space only were the holiest places in Christendom in the 

1 Masovia was a part of Poland. Poland had no strong rulers at that time 
(§ 107). 



270 THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES [§249 

power of Christians. '' This failure was the greatest misfortune 
that could have befallen Europe. The inundation by the Turks 
could not have taken place had Europe become and remained 
mistress of Egypt and Syria. This possession would have fore- 
stalled all destruction of civilization, and we should now have 
more nations of our own kind in Europe." (Niebuhr.) Never- 
theless the heavy expenses in blood and treasure had not been made 
entirely in vain. 

The crusades had helped to create a new age. The Europe of 1300 
was a different world from the Europe of iioo. 

249. Military Result. — By keeping the Mohammedan 
powers busy in Asia the crusaders saved the life of the Eastern 
Empire for two hundred years more. Europe had two more 
centuries to develop its own civil and political institutions, 
before the enemy battered at its very gates. It is a significant 
fact that not ten years after the fall of Acre (§ 245) a Turkish 
chieftain, Osman (Othman), made himself master of those prov- 
inces in Asia Minor which the Greeks had reconquered after 
the first crusade (§ 239). In Brussa, not a hundred miles from 
Constantinople, he established in 1299 the center of a new 
Turkish power, that of the Osmanic or Ottoman Turks, which 
became the terror and scourge of all civilized Europe. 

250. Results for the Church. — A great idea, to free the 
Holy Sepulcher, had taken hold of Christian Europe. To 
realize this idea heroic efforts were made by individuals and 
communities, by the millions that went on the crusades and by 
other millions, parents, wives, children, and friends, who sym- 
pathized with the crusaders, and though remaining at home 
had fully caught the crusading spirit.^ The source of this spirit 
was an intense and enthusiastic personal love for Jesus Christ, 
and this devotion could not fail to be enormously strengthened 

1 James J. Walsh (Thirteenth Century, p. 229) thinks that much of the 
chronicling of crusaders' experiences was done for the sake of the women, 
(See § 241.) 



§251] RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES 271 

in consequence. No wonder that Christian Ufe in general 
became much more brisk and active. No period can boast of 
so many Saints in palace, hut, and convent. The foundation 
of the Mendicant Orders (§§ 232 ff.) was a fruit of this new spirit. 
Shortly before them another Order, a very *' timely " one, had 
been established, the " Order of the Blessed Trinity for the 
Redemption of Captives," — a counterpart of the military 
Orders. About a million prisoners, it is said, owe to this Order 
their liberation from horrible servitude. The military Orders 
and their flourishing condition at a time when membership 
meant a life of sacrifice reveal an astonishing amount of lively 
Faith among the higher classes. 

The Migration of Nations had inaugurated a great missionary 
activity, which indeed had never died out completely. But the 
period of the crusades saw a new revival of apostolic zeal. 
It was now that final and successful efforts were made for 
the conversion of the Slavs on the eastern bank of the Elbe 
(§§199,200,106).! The Christianization of Prussia (§ 247) was 
the last step in this progress of the religion of Christ along the 
coasts of the Baltic. Finland's conversion originated from 
Sweden at the same period. Lithuania alone in spite of serious 
efforts remained pagan for a hundred years more. Numerous 
were the attempts at Christianizing the Mohammedans of 
Northern Africa. Missionaries went even to the Mongols 
and established a bishopric in Peking, then the capital of the 
vast Mongolian empire (§ 214). The popes directed, en- 
couraged, and supported all these enterprises. 

251. General Intellectual Results. — The crusades brought 
new energies into play, and opened up new worlds of thought. 

1 An amusing incident is told of the conversion of the Pomeranians. A 
poor monk arrived among them as apostle. They refused to listen to him, 
because they said the Lord of heaven and earth could not have chosen such 
a beggar for His ambassador. Thereupon St. Otto, the Bishop of Bamberg, 
went to them. But he added to the virtue of an apostle the pomp of a 
prince. He effected their conversion. 



272 THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES [§252 

The intellectual horizon widened. Men gained acquaintance 
with new lands, new peoples, new manners. They became 
desirous of discovering unknown countries. Crusading thoughts 
in fact had much to do with the enterprise of Columbus. 

The crusaders brought back at once some new gains in 
science, art, architecture, and medical knowledge ; and their 
romantic adventures furnished heroic subjects for the pen of 
poet and story-teller — so that literary activity was stimulated, 
and many histories of the crusades were written. But, best 
of all, Europeans had learned that there was more to learn 
in the world. There was a new stir in the intellectual at- 
mosphere, and the way was prepared for a wonderful intellectual 
uprising. It was indeed at this period that the universities 
began to rise and the great teachers to gather eager crowds 
of students about them (§ 267 ff.). This, too, w^as the time of 
the grand development of architecture (§ 277 ff.). 

252. Commercial Results. — x\s long as the Latin states in 
Syria lasted (nearly two hundred years), they were dependent 
upon Europe for iceapons, horses, and even supplies of food. 
These things had to be transported by sea ; and, during the 
last crusades, the crusaders themselves usually journeyed by 
ship. This stimulated shipbuilding, and led to an increased 
production of many commodities for these new markets. 

Even more important was the reappearance in the West of 
long-forgotten Oriental products. Europeans now learned to 
use sugar cane, spices, dates, buckwheat, sesame, saffron, apri- 
cots, watermelons, oils, perfumes, and various drugs and dyes, 
and, among new objects of manufacture, cottons, silks, rugs, 
calicoes, muslins, damasks, satins, velvets, delicate glassware, 
the cross-bow, the windmill. 

Many of these things became almost necessaries of life. 
Some of them were soon grown or manufactured in Europe. 
Others, like spices, could not be produced there, and, in conse- 
quence, commerce with distant parts of Asia grew enormously. 



§253] RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES 273 

In the absence of fresh meat in winter and of our modern 
root-foods, spices became of immense importance for the table. 
For a time, Venice and Genoa, assisted by their favorable posi- 
tions, monopolized much of the new carrying trade ; but all 
the ports of Western Europe were more or less affected. This 
commercial activity called for quicker methods of reckoning; 
and at this time Europe adopted the Arabic numerals f§ 74). 

Money Replaced Barter. — All these commercial transactions 
called for money. The system of barter and of exchange of serv- 
ices by which Europe had largely lived for some centuries was 
outgrown. In consequence the coinage of money grew rapidly. 

253. The Crusades Undermined FeudaUsm. — After money 
had become common, the relations between tenant and land- 
lord, and lord and vassal no longer needed to rest upon exchange 
of services for land. Thus the economic basis of feudalism 
(§ 118) was weakened or destroyed. The presence of money, 
too, enabled the kings to collect national revenues, and so to 
maintain standing armies of well-drilled mercenaries, more effi- 
cient than the old feudal arrays. 

The crusades struck even more direct blows than this at 
feudalism. Thousands of barons and knights never returned 
from the Orient, and their fiefs escheated to their lords, frequently 
to the crown. Moreover, to procure the money wherewith to 
equip their followers for the crusades the great barons mortgaged 
their possessions to the kings, and sometimes the smaller 
vassals sold them outright. And kings as well as great vassals 
sold charters of rights to the rising towns to obtain money. 
Thus the kings acquired a more direct power over their subjects 
outside the cities, and the cities obtained more liberties and a 
greater amount of home rule. The townsmen now figure as the 
" third estate " beside the higher clergy and the nobles. All 
this, however, varied greatly in the various countries.^ 

1 See "The Results of the Crusades, " in Bp. Shahan's The Middle Ages. 
pp. 355-393. 







Siege of a Medieval Town. — (The summons to surrender.) — From a 
sixteenth century copper engraving. 



CHAPTER XIII 



MEDIEVAL CITIES 



A. Character 

254. The Origin of the Cities has been alluded to repeatedly. 
In the former Roman provinces there had remained some of 
the old communities which carried on their municipal life as 
best they could. This was in particular the case in Italy and 
southern France (§ 56; for Germany see § 199). Later on 
human habitations clustered around the convents and the 
residences of the bishops and kings. In the beginning these 
settlements remained under the complete control of the 
lord of the land, the king or his vassal. Soon they obtained 
special privileges, such as the exclusive right of holding a market 
for certain districts. Exemption from the lord's court of justice 
and a greater or less amount of self-government followed. 

Many of the inhabitants possessed fields in the neighborhood, 

274 



§ 255] EXTERNAL APPEARANCE OF THE CITY 275 



which gave to the new town the aspect of a large but prosperous 
looking village. A large number of the cities thus created, always 
remained to some extent agricultural. But the tendency of the 
city people was rather to engage in commercial and industrial 
pursuits. Commerce, carried on on a larger or smaller scale, as 
well as every kind 
of handicraft and 
professional pur- 
suit, stamped all 
the cities with quite 
a peculiar charac- 
ter. The increase 
in money (§ 253) 
gave a new impetus 
in the same direc- 
tion. Thus there 
arose a division of 
labor between the 
town and its rural 
environs, the latter 
furnishing the 
fruits of the fields 
and the town offer- 
ing tlie products of 
industry and the 
merchandise im- 
ported from else- 
where. 

255. External Appearance of the City. — The mean cottages 
of the country folk gave way to the comfortable and even stately 
homes of the sturdy townsmen, and the palaces, stores, offices, 
and warehouses of the merchants. Imposing town halls and other 
public buildings, and large and splendid churches further con- 
tributed to mark the difference between the country and the city. 




Medieval Town Hall (Oudenarde, Belgium). 



276 



MEDIEVAL CITIES 



[§255 



For their safety the townsmen would surround their cities 
as the nobles did their castles with lofty stone walls and deep 
moats. Access could not be had except through the well-forti- 
fied gates. The citizens themselves were obliged to military 
service. By turns they mounted guard at the gates on the high 
towers of the wall ^— at least when times were critical : while 




City Gate at Aigues Mortes, a town in Southern France. 

ordinarily, in cities which could afford it, these duties were 
intrusted to a few paid officers. The gates were locked at night. 
During the day no one was admitted unless he gave the men on 
duty satisfactory assurance of hi? unobjectionable character. 

But the space inclosed by the walls had to be utilized to the 
utmost. Hence the streets were narrow and dark. They were 
nearly always crooked, because the city had grown sponta- 
neously, without much planning. Sewerage and sanitation in 
general left much to be desired. Nor were the thoroughfares 
lighted during the night. 



§257] THE GILDS 277 

The number of inhabitants was much smaller than the renown 
of many a famous city would lead us to expect. There were 
some really large cities in Italy, one or the other of which could 
claim more than a hundred thousand people. Some German 
towns went beyond twenty thousand. But few places any- 
where had more than seven thousand. Until 1500 England had 
only two towns with more than twelve thousand — London 
and Bristol. 

B. The Gilds 

256. Organization was the watchword of the Middle Ages. 
The adage, '* United we stand, divided we fall," has never been 
better understood nor more systematically carried into effect. 
Wherever there were people with the same inclinations, aims, 
and interests, religious or secular, some kind of Gild (guild, 
society, confraternity) was sure to arise. The number of these 
gilds was incredibly large. Yet there was no confusion, partly 
because of the definiteness of their aims and purposes, partly 
because all were under the active control of the ecclesiastical 
and civil authorities. 

257. I. The religious gilds were somewhat like our own 
confraternities and sodalities and pious societies. But on the 
whole they showed their religious spirit more actively in common 
practices of piety and in the exercise of charity towards members 
and non-members. Each had its peculiar devotions and reli- 
gious festivities. But almsgiving, from funds collected by the 
members or from endowments established permanently by 
benefactors, the care of the sick, the burial of the dead, and 
the providing of Masses for deceased members were common 
to all. 

These features, however, were found in the secular gilds as 
well, because the people could not conceive of any organization 
which would refuse to profess itself Christian. The greatest 



278 MEDIEVAL CITIES [§257 

event in the yearlj^ round of public religious practices was the 
participation in the Corpus Christi procession.^ 

II. The craft gilds were unions of artisans — weavers, shoe- 
makers, glovers, tanners, and so on. York, a small English city 
of some tlu'ee thousand people, had fifty such gilds, Cologne 
had eighty. 

Three grades of workers were distinguished according to their 
skill in handicraft : masters, journeymen, and apprentices. 
The master alone might set up a shop in which he himself with 
one or more journeymen and apprentices worked at his craft. 
It was a diminutive factory, in which the factory owner himself 
was a worker. His journeymen commonly, and his apprentices 
always, lived in his house and ate at his table like members of 
his family. '' The master must so faithfully and loyally teach 
his apprentice that he can one day answer for it to God." " He 
must take his apprentice to church, and with zeal bring him up 
in honesty and fear of God, as if he were his own child." 

When the stipulated time of the apprenticeship was over, the 
apprentice became a journeyman, and began " journeying " 
to other towns in order to perfect himself in his trade and see 
the world. Some years later he presented to the gild officers 
his masterpiece, that is, some piece of work in the line of his par- 
ticular craft, to show his competency. If it was accepted, he 
was admitted as master to full membership in the gild. 

The gilds were formed by the masters and journeymen, while 
the apprentices were considered its wards. The real control of 

1 The gilds took a prominent part in the performance of the popular 
religious dramas. Of these there were two kinds, the Miracle Plays, which 
enacted events taken from the Bible or from lives of Saints ; and the Morality 
Plays, which presented in allegorical form the great truths which ought to 
govern the life of Christians. Some of these plays have survived, for 
instance the famous "Everj-man," which was given some years ago in 
most cities of America. It brings out most forcibly the vanity of all earthly 
possessions. The performances took place in the open air, and there was of 
course no charge for the spectators. Special Report : Walsh, Thirteenth 
Century, pp. 238 ff. 



§257] THE GILDS 279 

gild affairs, however, was in the hands of the masters. But the 
travehng journeyman enjoyed the protection of the gild in every 
city where he happened to be occupied. It was greatly con- 
ducive to a good understanding between employers and em- 
ployees, that both belonged to the same organization.^ 

The gilds had their gild houses, some of which were quite 
sumptuous buildings. Here took place the business meetings 
and the social gatherings and jollifications. Gild life generated 
a strong corporate feeling, a pride in the honor of handicraft, 
and a desire to turn out work which would be a credit both to 
the workman and to the profession. The craftsman knew there 
were other men greater and more powerful than he. But he 
envied them not. According to Divine Providence the work- 
man, too, was a necessary part of the human family ; without 
him the world could exist as little as without the king. And 
handicraft had been sanctified by the God-Man Himself. 

The gild had its Patron Saint, on whose festival the members 
in a body attended High Mass, often in their own chapel. Com- 
monly there was a grand procession. A banquet and merry- 
making took up the afternoon. Nor were the poor forgotten 
on such occasions. At Kiel twelve poor people were fed, " and 
a good piece of beef and a loaf of bread given to twelve poor 
students." 

The gild was based upon the Christian principles of justice 
and charity. Every member had the right to share in the supply 
of raw material of any other member by refunding the .cost, and 
all were bound to follow the same methods in the sale of their 
products. The price fixed by the gild secured the rights of 
both producer and custiomer.^ If a member died poor, the 

1 In some cities this advantage was lost by the formation of separate 
journeymen's gilds, which, like the unions of our own times, consisted of 
employees only. Strikes, too, were not of infrequent occurrence in the 
Middle Ages. 

* Times have changed since the gilds governed the relation between work- 
man and employer. Our tables and chairs are no longer produced in the 



280 MEDIEVAL CITIES [§258 

gild paid a pension to his wife and even gave dowries to his 
daughters. '' We shall be repaid by the good God, Who has 
repaid many." 

III. The merchant gilds were established for the purpose of 
obtaining those business advantages which could be secured only 
by united action. Though, like the craft gilds, essentially of a 
secular nature, they embodied not only the economic but also 
the religious and charitable features which were practically 
common to all such organizations. On the continent they were 
of a more aristocratic character than in England. The craft 
gilds, conscious of their own strength, here and there engaged 
with them in bloody contests for political privileges in the 
government of the cities. 

It was chiefly due to the activity of the gilds, religious and 
secular, that " there was practically no unrelieved poverty in 
the cities during the later Middle Ages. The specter of the 
modern proletariat, wretched, debased, with no definitely rec- 
ognized claim upon any social group or institution, had no 
counterpart in the municipal life of that time." Rev. John A, 
Ryan, in Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. Ill, p. 599. 

258. The rise of princely despotism about and after the begin- 
ning of the sixteenth century, and the religious disintegration 
induced at that time by the Reformation, greatly contributed 
to the decline of the gilds. In England all the gilds were 

craftshop, where a master worked side by side with his journeymen and 
apprentices. The owner of our furniture factory is no longer on familiar 
terms with his numerous workmen. Commonly he hardly knows them. 
The old gild relation cannot be revived except where there is still a suiffi- 
ciently large number of craftsmen of the old type. Generally speaking we 
must try to secure by some other method the results formerly obtained by 
the gilds. Above all it must ever be kept in view that according to the will 
of God workers and employers are not enemies but friends, neither of whom 
can get along without the other. The principles which guided the medieval 
gilds in fixing the amount of wages and prices are still in force and ought to 
bring about the same result. In his famous Encyclical, "On the Condition 
of the Working Classes," Pope Leo XIII sets forth in what manner 
workingmen's societies should be organized in our own modern times. 



§259] THE CITIES AS STATES 281 

brutally destroyed by Edward VI (§ 379). In many places 
on the continent the gilds practically became benefit societies 
for a limited number of masters' families and their associates. 
In some localities, however, gild life retained much of its ancient 
vigor until well into the nineteenth century. 

For Further Reading. — Guggenberger, Vol. II, §§ 176-180, will 
supplement our short sketch in many ways. Several chapters in Dr. 
Walsh's Thirteenth, Greatest of Centuries give a brilliant picture of the 
conditions of handicraft and art during the Middle Ages. Similar is a 
chapter in Cardinal Gasquet's Eve of the Reformation and the first fifty 
pages of Vol. II of Janssen's History of the German People. Transla- 
tions and Reprints, Vol. II, No. 1, is a collection of ordinances, rules, 
etc., of medieval gilds. 

C. The Cities as States 

259. Political Position of the Cities. — The town elected its 
own officers, and prescribed their powers. Offenses committed 
within it were tried in its own courts, and were punished by 
ducking in water, by fines, by flogging, mutilation, or death. 
Some of the continental towns inflicted cruel penalties. The 
town officers, together with the gilds, supervised all industry, in 
particular the making and selling of articles of food, such as 
bread, ale, wine, etc. They provided against famine by keeping 
supplies of grain in the cities' warehouses.^ They even made 
regulations for the dress of the several classes, to prevent 
extravagance. They waged wars on one another, or concluded 
special treaties regarding trade privileges. Southampton had 
formal agreements with seventy other English towns. Within 
twenty years London sent out three hundred letters on such 
matters to the officials of ninety different towns. On the con- 
tinent such city leagues were more pronouncedly of a political 

1 In 1540 the burghers of Nuremberg boasted to Emperor Charles V that 
the bread they offered him had been made from wheat kept in the town 
granary for 118 years. 



282 



MEDIEVAL CITIES 



[§259 



character. We have already noted the powerful Lombard 
League, which fought against Barbarossa (§ 208). 

In England the development was slower than on the continent. 
The cities found the royal power more firmly established, and, 
like the English nobles, they never possessed the extreme in- 
dependence which was found in other cities of Europe. But the 




The "Ducal Palace," Venice. — Residence of the "Doge" (Duke), the 
president of the Republic of Venice. 



" Cinque Ports," a league of five towns on the Channel, was 
able to wage war on its own account with French and Flemish 
cities. 

In France the Southern towns which had grown from old 
Roman municipalities (§ 194) were in the beginning almost 
independent. But the systematic increase of the royal power 
encroached upon them to such a degree that by 1400 their 



§259] 



THE CITIES AS STATES 



283 



early liberties had entirely vanished, and they were ruled by 
royal officers. 

Northern Italy. After the imperial power had almost dis- 
appeared, the cities grew enormously in wealth, power, and 
independence, and were practically sovereign states. Venice, 
never really under the emperor, and Genoa, retained their 




St. Mark's Cathedral, Venice. — The present building which replaced 
an older one, was erected in 976. Its style is a mixture of the Byzantine 
and the Romanesque (§ 277). Compare with the pictures in §§ 63, 141, 
142, 145. 



position as sovereign republics until the days of the French 
Revolution. Many other cities fared differently. In the in- 
cessant wars between town and town able generals found oppor- 
tunities to become, first the most prominent men, then the 
rulers of their fellow citizens. In this way, after a long period 
of free city life, there appear dukedoms and other principalities 



284 MEDIEVAL CITIES [§260 

in Northern Italy instead of the ambitious municipaUties. 
Chief among these were the dukedoms of Milan under the 
family of the Visconti and Sforza, and of Mantua, under the 
Gonzagas. Later on the Medici held a similar position in 
Florence.^ 

260. In Germany the cities rose to be a great political power. 
They obtained their privileges partly from the king, partly from 
the vassal lords, the bishops included. Some fifty cities gained 
freedom from all control of subordinate princes, and became 
directly subject to the king (or emperor) alone. As " free 
and imperial cities " they were the equals of the princes in 
rank. They retained their position until the times of Napo- 
leon I (§ 605, d). 

Like the cities in other countries the German towns frequently 
combined in city leagues, chiefly to secure safe transit for their 
commerce by land and sea. Important and mighty were the 
Rhenish- League and the Suabian League, and more so than all 
the rest combined, the Hansa. . 

261. The Hanseatic League ('' Hansa," — an old German word for 
*' union ") was composed of eighty northern German towns. It grew 
up about 1300, out of earlier unions of small groups of cities ; and it 
was organized to protect trade against pirates and robbers, and to 
secure greater advantages in foreign countries than single cities could 
secure for themselves. 

It established colonies, or " factories," in foreign cities, as in London, 
Novgorod, Bergen, Bruges, and Wisby. Each such colony had its own 
government and its own soldiery, independent of those of the other 
parts of the city in which it was imbedded. The Hanseatic settlement 
in London was known as the Steelyard. The importance of the Hansa in 
English trade is indicated by the fact that the coin (pound) of the 
" Easterlings " (from the East, or Baltic, Sea) became the "pound 
sterling " in English currency ; and the trustworthy character of their 
wares is shown by the meaning of the word " sterling " in our language. 

By war, or threats of war, the Hansa won trading privileges from the 

1 See Betten, Ancient History, § 126, on the Greek Tyrants. — St. Aloysius 
Gonzaga was of a side branch of the Ducal Family of Mantua. 





/ 

DOMIMO.XS OF THE HA>S1 AND 
601- OF THE TEUTONIC ORDER AT 

THEIR GREATEST EXTENT. 
(About 1400.) 

Hansa toicTis are shoicn thus.- Groningen 
Foreign Factories of the League thus:- Bruges 
Cities in tchich the League, or some of its 
members, possessed trading privileges 
thus:- Taxmonth 

TERRITORY OF THE TETTOSIC OKDKE. 



10 



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Added up to UW. 



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W L 



Bremen'^ 



Liiiiebnrg ^ 
tlzen 



burg 



Greifswald ^^ 
Stet 



Pritrw&lk 



S^iivedel 



iKyritz 



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lorer ' _ awndal o T/ai,germ5nde c I 

o Brunsinek q c „ 

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10 



§262] THE CITIES AS STATES 285 

kings of England and other northern countries. In 1370 Waldemar of 
Denmark was compelled after long strife to sign the Peace of Stralsund, 
which provided that future Danish kings must have the sanction of the 
League before they mounted the throne. For a century the League was 
one of the Great Powers of Europe. The Hansa flag floated over nearly 
every merchant ship of the northern seas and over nearly every counting 
house from London to Novgorod. The League owned fisheries and 
mines ; and in their trading posts there met, for exchange, furs and hides 
from Russia, grain from Poland, amber from the Baltic coasts, metals of 
Saxony, wines of the Rhine, wool and tin of England, cloths of Holland, 
and the products of the more distant South and East. 

The Hansa declined partly because of internal dissensions ; partly 
because the German princes in whose territory the cities lay — there 
were very few '^ free and imperial cities " in the North of Germany — 
grew jealous and ordered them to discontinue their membership ; 
partly because the governments of the foreign countries in the North 
gained more strength and resented German commercial influence. 
The Hansa, however, still exists in three of its members, Hamburg, 
Liibeck, and Bremen, which, in 1871, entered the new German Empire 
on the footing of sovereign states. 

262. Conclusion. — For a time it almost seemed as if the 
future of Europe belonged to the enterprising cities and not to 
the kings and their larger states, so mighty were the city leagues. 
But their power was not to last. We may regret that the 
ascendency of these thriving little commonwealths declined, 
and we cannot but disapprove of many of the conditions which 
brought about this decline. Had their power kept increasing, 
however, it would have broken up larger national life and re- 
duced all Europe to fragments like the powerless city states of 
ancient Greece. 

For Further Reading. — Ogg, Source Book, No. 57 ; Robinson, Read- 
ings, I, pp. 406-415; Zimmern. The Hansa Towns; Walsh, Thirteenth 
Century, pp. 375 ff. ; Walsh, Century of Columbus, pp. 169 ff. 



CHAPTER XIV 
LEARNING AND ARTS 

A. Literature 

263. Latin Literature. — The language of the learned was 
Latin and remained so for many centuries. Among the Latin 
productions of the Teutonic period we may mention particularly 
many historical works and the lives of Saints and other promi- 
nent persons.^ Peculiar to the time are the Chronicles, which 
simply record, under each year, the important events without 
trying to connect them in any way. Some of them are confined 
to localities, convents, or churches ; others, e.g. the famous Anglo- 
Saxon Chronicle, take in a whole nation. Chronicles are not 
history proper, but they furnish valuable material to the his- 
torians. 

Many of these writings, lives of Saints particularly, contain much 
legendary matter. Those were not critically inchned times (§ 148). 
People believed in the possibility of miracles, and in a kindly Divine 
Providence. They were right so far. But in their credulity they often 
accepted the reports of miraculous events without much investigation. 
Then, just as with writers of our own days, they were subject to bias 
for or against certain rulers or nations or institutions. Yet all this 
leaves a very considerable number of reliable sources from which to draw 
knowledge of the period. 

Poetry, too, at first, usually chose a Latin dress. Charle- 
magne's literary circle could boast of a goodly number of 

^ In his Readings in European History, Vol. I, James H. Robinson enu- 
merates and briefly describes the chief historical sources for the Middle 
Ages. But this bibliography (placed at the end of the several chapters) can 
give but a faint idea of the large number of books from which historians 
draw their knowledge of those times. 

286 



§ 264] LITERATURE 287 

creditable poetical productions, which did not remain without 
imitations. The period of the Ottos had the honor of being 
glorified by a poetess, the nun Hroswitha,^ whose fertile and 
not unskillful pen produced a number of simple Latin dramas 
and panegyrical poems of considerable merit. Several epics, also, 
belong to the same period. The copious literature of the 
" Schoolmen " will be dealt with in a later chapter (§§ 273 ff.). 

The struggle carried on by the Church for a more dignified 
and virtuous life in the clergy and against the encroachments 
of the secular power had an enlivening influence upon the whole 
intellectual life of Europe. A similar and even more powerful 
effect in every field of medieval activity followed the general 
stir caused by the Crusades. 

264. Literature in National Languages. — At the time of 
the Crusades the national languages begin to be used much 
more extensively. Charlemagne had cultivated his German, 
Alfred the Great had introduced the tongue of Anglo-Saxon 
England into his prose writings. A number of poetical works 
had appeared in the course of several centuries in the languages 
of the people. But now this use became general. . The following 
are a few of the important productions of the period. 

Under the Hohenstaufens Germany developed lyric poetry of 
a high perfection. The chief theme of its minnesingers was 
love. Southern France had. its troubadours with their amatorial 
songs, many of them notoriously corrupt. Spain produced the 
So7ig of the Cid (the national hero in the conflict with the Moors). 
In northern France the trouveurs celebrated King Arthur and his 
Table Round or the adventures of Charlemagne and his (real 
or fictitious) companions. An unknown German poet wove 
part of the national legends into a stately epic, the Nihelung en- 
lied. The ballads of the North were shaped into the Heim- 
skringla by a bard in far-off Iceland. These medieval works 
and many others richly repay careful reading. 

1 See American Catholic Quarterly Review, 1914, pp. 442 ff. 



288 LEARNING AND ARTS [§265 

265. But the grandest product of medieval poetry is the 
Divine Comedy of the Italian Dante, " the most astonishing 
poem in the world, dwarfing all others." 

Under the allegory of a journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, 
the poet gives expression to the most sublime thoughts that natiu'e and 
Faith can furnish. Comparing him with Virgil, the great Roman, a 
critic said : " His metre is as pliable and flexible to every mood of 
emotion, his diction as plaintive and as sonorous. . . . Dante is even 
truer in description than Virgil, whether he paints the snow falling in 
the Alps, or the homeward flight of the birds, or the swelling of an angry 
torrent. But under this gorgeous pageantry there lies a unity of con- 
ception, a power of philosophic grasp, an earnestness of religion, which 
to the Roman poet is entirely unknown." (Quoted from Walsh, 
Thirteenth Century, p. 317.) 

B. Schools and Universities 

266. The Monastic and Cathedral Schools. — Before the 
inroads of the Northmen the schools of the Irish monasteries 
were celebrated throughout Europe (§§ 62, 102). On the 
continent Charlemagne's enlightened efforts gave a new impetus 
to school education. It was in the convent and cathedral 
schools established or renewed in consequence of his encourage- 
ment, and in similar institutions of later date, that the authors 
of the literature of the times (§ 263) had received their education. 
The instruction in mathematics and astronomy, however, was 
of a very primitive character. Natural sciences were very 
little cultivated. 

But the causes mentioned in the beginning of the preceding 
paragraph worked a complete revolution. They brought about 
the establishment of universities, a means of instruction beyond 
which mankind has not as yet advanced. 

267. The universities came into being gradually. The oldest, 
Bologna in Italy, grew from the famous schools of Law of that 
city. That of Paris was originally a union of the cathedral school 
with other schools. Several universities were started by dissat- 



§267] THE UNIVERSITIES 289 

isfied students and professors seceding from other institutions. 
Thus Oxford in England owes its beginning to such a secession 
from Paris ; the university of Pavia is an off-shoot of Bologna. 

It required relatively little time for these new institutions to 
develop a regular system of teaching and government. The 
teachers were divided into several faculties for the various 
branches : theology, philosophy, medicine, law. What natural 
science there was went under philosophy. A faculty of arts 
gave the prelimiftary education, chiefly in the classics, — a 
course more or less resembling that covered in our high schools 
and colleges combined. The professors of each faculty elected 
a dean, as their head ; the whole university was under an elective 
rector. In those days it was evident that in all questions of 
education the pope must have a decisive influence : in each 
university he was represented by the chancellor, who gave the 
teaching license to those whom the university had appointed. 

The universities were completely cosmopolitan. One lan- 
guage, Latin, served for the lectures as well as for daily inter- 
course among professors and students. A German might be 
elected rector in Paris, or an Englishman in Bologna. The 
students flocked together from all countries indiscriminately. 
In the university each student belonged to a certain nation. 
But this did not necessarily coincide with the nation from which 
he came. In Paris there were four " nations," the French, the 
Normans, the Picards, the English ; but the English nation 
embraced all the students from the northern countries, including 
the Germans. In Bologna there was one great division between 
those from Italy and those from "Beyond the Mountains," each 
class being again subdivided into some twenty "nations." 

The universities soon procured great ecclesiastical and civil 
privileges. Teachers and students became exempt from the 
local magistrates. The institution thus was a republic in itself. 
The students were tried and punished for crimes not by royal 
or city courts but by the university authorities. 



290 LEARNING AND ARTS [§268 

The young man who passed the examination at the end of his 
course in *' iVrts" was declared Baccalaureus Artium, Bachelor 
of Arts. Many were satisfied with this. Those who stayed for 
higher studies selected one of the other branches. The goal 
of their ambition was the title of Doctor (teacher) in their 
profession. (In some universities the title of Magister, Master, 
was equivalent to Doctor.) 

The examination contained a written and an oral test but the oral 
was the more important. Besides the lectures of the professors there 
was a constant round of oral repetitions and above all numerous debates 
or disputations. Lent was the special season for disputations, and they 
were from time to time held with great pomp and ceremony. 

While the first universities rose more or less spontaneously, the later 
ones were formally established by popes or, with the pope's cooperation, 
by secular princes, until by 1400 about fifty of them dotted Western 
Europe. The number of students was certainly very large, though such 
figures as, for Paris, 30,000, have been proved to be exaggerations. 

With the rise of these new institutions of learning the older schools 
did not disappear. Some affiliated with the universities. Others 
ceased to teach the higher branches and finally found their place as 
preparatory schools, corresponding to the faculty of arts in the univer- 
sities. 

268. The Students of the Universities. — The student body com- 
monly contained men in civil and ecclesiastical positions, not to speak of 
numerous nobles. Even cardinals are mentioned as students. For 
poor scholars liberal provisions were made. Medieval life was more 
fluid than we can easily comprehend. Merchants, soldiers of fortune, 
friars, journeymen (§ 257), were always on the move. But the wander- 
ing scholar was in eminence. The laws of many countries afforded him 
special protection. But he often begged his bread. With the secular 
priests and in the monasteries large and small, he commonly met with 
a kind reception. (Even now in places which have remained Catholic 
the young student is the welcome guest of the priest and of those monas- 
tic institutions which have survived the ravages of time.) Young men 
thought nothing of passing from Oxford to Paris or Pavia to sit at the 
feet of some new famous teacher, and to see the world — another kind 
of education. They often traveled in bands with much jollity and 
song and sometimes with much disorder. The fact that Latin was the 
language of all universities encouraged this freedom of movement. 



§269] UNIVERSITY TEACHING 291 

C. Doctrines and Teachers in the Universities 

269. University teaching embraced everything that was con- 
sidered worth knowing. The principal branch was theology, 
that is, the revealed tenets of Christianity. The Bible and the 
decrees of Councils and of popes, as well as the writings of 
earlier authors, were the object of detailed study. Even when 
not studied as a special branch they formed the groundwork of 
all other theological teaching. Next came philosophy, that is, 
the knowledge of things from merely natural sources. The 
philosopher of the Middle Ages, like his predecessor of ancient 
Greece, tried to penetrate by reasoning into the very essence of 
things, starting from what is known to everybody, and driving 
his conclusions to what is knowable by dint of deeper thinking. 

Theology as well as a good deal of philosophy had been studied 
and taught from the beginning of Christianity. But at this 
period another method, though not altogether a new one, was 
employed. This is called Scholasticism (school method), and 
the great teachers who used it are the Scholastics or the Schoolmen. 
Scholasticism of course does not teach new doctrines. But it 
teaches them in a peculiar systematic way. 

(1) All the various tenets bearing on one point are brought 
together, those for instance on the Blessed Trinity, or the Re- 
demption, or Original Sin. Thus the entire doctrine appears 
as one great organism. This had never been done to such an 
extent. Now it became the rule. The catechisms of to-day 
have the same feature. In fact they are tiny extracts of Scho- 
lastic theology. 

(2) Scholasticism not only adduces proofs for every individual 
point of doctrine, but it also shows the connection between 
various points, and everywhere compares expressly the natural 
knowledge of philosophy with that received from God by super- 
natural revelation. 

(3) The constant appeal to natural wisdom for the purpose 



292 - LEARNING AND ARTS [§270 

of proving, explaining, and appreciating the great truths of Faith 
is perhaps the most striking pecuHarity of Scholasticism. 

270. As to the relation between theology and philosophy, the School- 
men as well as all Christians hold that there can be no contradiction 
between the truths revealed directly by the God of Truth and Wisdom 
and those embodied by the same God in the visible works of His hands. 
The latter truths are the contents of philosophy and the natural sciences ; 
the former make up the articles of our Faith. An opposition between 
the two can exist in appearance only, and evidently, in case of such an 
apparent opposition, we must not presume revelation to have erred but 
philosophy. The source of revealed truth is infallible. But human 
reason, subject to countless influences of pride and other passions, of 
custom and surrounding, is liable to go astray, and as a matter of fact 
has endless blunders on its record. It is not philosophy that has saved 
the world from barbarism and from the mire of immorality ! 

271. Arabic Influence — Aristotle. — x\s the first universities 
had grown out of the older schools, so they continued in the 
traditions received from former institutions. But about the 
beginning of the thirteenth century the West of Europe became 
acquainted through the Arabs with the complete works of 
Aristotle, the greatest of the ancient Greek philosophers, of 
which little had been known before. (See § 74, and Ancient 
History, § 316.) In the course of the century, however, copies 
of the original Greek text were obtained through the Greeks 
in the East, and better translations made. These books worked 
a real revolution. Aristotle's books, supplemented by the 
master hand of St. Thomas and other prominent teachers, be- 
came the foundation of all philosophical studies. Aristotle 
was The Philosopher. 

This was the only influence exerted by Arab philosophers on 
Scholasticism. None of the philosophic tenets of the Schoolmen 
had been taken from original Arabic books. The attacks of 
Mohammedans on Christianity, however, forced the Christians 
.to study many points more explicitly than they would have 
done otherwise. 



§ 272] SCHOLASTICISM 293 

In the line of natural sciences the Arabs rendered valuable 
services. In medicine, geography, mathematics, chemistry, 
and physics, they transmitted much positive knowledge to the 
eager scholars of the new universities. 

272. The Schoolmen laid great stress upon dialectics, that is, the 
art of reasoning and scientific debating, ^ The very heart of dialectics 
is the syllogism. The syllogism is the natural process of reasoning 
expressed in clear form. All men make most extensive use of it, with- 
out being aware of the fact. Suppose you are in a strange city and wish 
to go to Lincoln Park. You hear from a policeman that any brown 
car will take you there. You watch for a brown car and jump into 
the next that comes. You have used a syllogism, which if fully expressed 
would look like this : 

Any brown car will take me to Lincoln Park. 

But this is a brown car. 

Therefore it will take me to Lincoln Park. 

In scholastic disputations syllogisms are always expressly formulated. 
The proceeding is exactly like that in which the detailed proofs of mathe- 
matical problems are given. This method cuts short all beating about 
the bush. 

The syllogism cannot teach anything entirely new. It can only bring 
out what is concealed in the " premises." Nobody has ever claimed that 
it can discover unknown forces of nature. But all scientists apply it 

1 Here should be mentioned the brilliant but rather superficial Peter 
Ahelard, 1079-1142, who attracted immense crowds when teaching in 
Paris before the university of that city had been formed. His ability in 
disputing is unquestioned. "But he appears to have preferred victory to 
truth." In consequence of a love affair he was forced to leave Paris, entered 
the Benedictine Order, which he left on account of difficulties with his 
superiors, and established himself in a lonely place, where he again at- 
tracted multitudes of eager listeners. Abelard was at war with everybody. 
His teachings contained many errors. St. Bernard of Clairvaux brought 
about his condemnation. "He was condemned not because he advocated 
the rights of reason, nor because he applied dialectics to the discussion of the 
Blessed Trinity. . . . But because of the extravagant claims he urged on 
behalf of reason, and because of the heresy into which he fell." (Turner, 
History of Philosophy, p. 292.) To him, in spite of all his faults, is due the 
imvortance attached to dialectics by the Schoolmen. 



294 



LEARNING AND ARTS 



[§273 



very widely in the further exploitation of natural powers and in their 
attempts to determine the character, causes, and effects of such forces.^ 

273. Some of the Prominent Schoolmen. — (1) Blessed 
Albert the Great (died 1280), a German nobleman, joined the 
Order of St. Dominic in 1223. He taught at Paris and other 
places, but chiefly at Cologne, and everywhere eclipsed his 
fellow professors. Prominent as theologian and philosopher, he 

is from our standpoint 
more remarkable as a scien- 
tist. In one of his books 
he describes, for instance, 
all the trees and herbs 
known at his time, and 
adds : " All that is here set 
down is the result of our 
own observation, or has 
been borrowed from au- 
thors whom we know to 
have written what their 
personal experience con- 
firmed : for in these mat- 
ters experience alone can 
give certainty." 




Friar Teaching the Globe. — From 
a thirteenth centiiry manuscript. 



Modern scientists fully appreciate his works. " He was acquainted 
with the sleep of plants, with the periodical opening and closing of 
blossoms, with the diminution of sap through evaporation from the 
cuticle of the leaves, and with the influence of the distribution of the 
bundles of vessels on the folial indentations." " He considers that from 
the equator to the South Pole the earth is not only inhabitable but in 
all probability actually inhabited, except directly at the Poles, where he 
imagines the cold to be excessive. If there be any animals there, he 
says, they must have very thick skins which are probably of a white 

1 These remarks show that the syllogism is neither the only nor the 
most primary mode of "cognition." See handbooks of Logics or Dialectics, 
for instance, the little booklet, The Laws of Thought, by Wm. Poland, S.J. 



§274] SCHOLASTICISM 295 

color. The intensity of the cold is, however, tempered by the action of 
the sea. He smiles at the simpUcity of those who suppose that persons 
living at the opposite region of the earth must fall off." (Quoted from 
Walsh, Thirteenth Century, pp. 48, 50.) He was indeed much in 
advance of his age. The uneducated among his contemporaries began 
to suspect him of witchcraft.^ 

274. (2) St. Thomas Aquinas (died 1274). — One of Blessed 
Albert's greatest merits is to have trained the " Prince of 
the Schools," St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Thomas, born at 
Roccasecca, in Italy, was a relative of Emperor Frederick II. 
When still rather young he joined the Dominican Order. He 
taught chiefly in Paris and at Italian institutions. His renown 
was so great that once, when he returned to Paris, the king 
and the whole city came out to meet him. During his twenty 
years of teaching he wrote his numerous works, which cover 
most of the subjects of theology and philosophy, natural sciences 
included.^ His mind was both speculative and constructive. 
Dominating in his works is the idea of the fundamental unity 
of knowledge, arising from the fact that all truths emanate 
from the One God either by nature or by revelation. Indeed 
no Christian scholar has ever taught the contrary, but nobody 
before St. Thomas put it forth so forcibly and with such a 
complete command of all the results obtained by previous 
thinkers. St. Thomas was eminently a common-sense man. 
He took the good things he discovered in Greek, Arabic, and 
even Jewish, works ; improved on them wherever his keen 
intellect detected errors or shortcomings ; and then each found 
its place in the system which he was building up, — the funda- 

1 In connection with our previous chapter on the cities it will be of interest 
to know that this Dominican friar and university professor was repeatedly 
appealed to as arbiter in the quarrels of the city of Cologne with its several 
antagonists, among whom was the archbishop himself. "From this time 
dates the most flourishing period of the commerce of Cologne." 

2 It is said that in one of his treatises on chemistry he first used the Arabic 
term amalgam. 



296 LEARNING AND ARTS [§275 

mental lines of which were radiating from the One God of 
Wisdom and Truth. 

His books in print fill nineteen folio volumes, and have been 
translated from their original Latin into many languages, in- 
cluding Hebrew. His most important work is the Summa 
ThcoJogica, a comprehensive and systematic presentation of the 
entire field of theology and philosophy. Perhaps no work 
possesses in a higher degree all the characteristics of the 
scholastic method. It still is and will ever remain the classic 
in the Catholic schools of theology and philosophy, Bl. Albert 
the Great surpasses him in extensiveness of knowledge. But it 
was the providential task of St. Thomas to be the Organizer 
of Christian Learning. 

275. (3) Roger Bacon (died 1294?) was probably another 
disciple of Albert the Great. ^ This brilliant English Franciscan 
for some time enjoyed the greatest renown as professor at 
Oxford University. He was a good philosopher and correct 
theologian, though in philosophy he adhered to a few outlandish 
opinions. But he was above all an extremely progressive 
scientist. His " Great Work " is a cyclopedia of thirteenth 
century knowledge in geography, mathematics, music, and 
physics. 

He had learned of the ocean east of China, and speculated convincingly 
upon the possibility of reaching Asia by sailing west into the Atlantic 
(§ 344). He prophesied that in time wagons and ships would move 
" with incredible speed," without the help of horses or sails, and also 
that man would learn to navigate the air. In 1358 Brunette Latini, 
the tutor of Dante, visited Bacon, and wrote as follows to a friend in 
Italy : " Among other things he showed me a black, ugly stone called a 
magnet, which has the surprising quality of drawing iron to it ; and if 
a needle be rubbed upon it and after«'ard fastened to a straw, so that it 
will swim upon water, it will instantly turn to the pole star. . . . 
Therefore, be the night never so dark, neither moon nor stars visible, 
yet shall the sailor by help of this needle be able to steer his vessel aright. 

^ Roger Bacon, the thirteenth-century friar, must not be confused with 
Francis Bacon, his countryman, of three centuries later. 



§ 276] SCHOLASTICISM 297 

This discovery, so useful to all ujho travel by sea, must remairi concealed 
until other times, because no master mariner dare use it, lest he fall under 
imputation of being a magician; nor would sailors put to sea with one 
who carried an instrument so evidently constructed by the devil. A time 
may come when these prejudices, such hindrances to researches into 
the secrets of nature, will be overcome; and then mankind will reap 
benefits from the labor of such men as Friar Bacon, vnho novj meet only 
with obloquy and reproach." 

It is to be deplored that this able and indefatigable scholar did not 
possess the character of an Albert the Great, whom he called ignorant 
and presumptuous. Friar Bacon ran amuck against the papal court, 
the bishops, the Mendicant Orders, the Scholastic method, and against 
all preachers and teachers in Christendom. Many of the things against 
which he inveighed were real abuses. But his inconsiderate ways made 
him many enemies. The superiors of his Order silenced and even im- 
prisoned him, while it appears that Pope Clement IV took his side. 
" Had he possessed as much prudence as scientific insight, he would 
probably have succeeded in his reforms and conferred inestimable 
benefit on Scholastic philosophy. Albert, who was less of an innovator 
than Bacon, contributed far more than Bacon did to the advancement 
of science in the thirteenth century." (Turner, History of Philosophy, 
p. 339.) 

276. Conclusion. — It would take too much space to give 
even the names of the most prominent of the Scholastics. 
In particular, St. Bonaventura and the " subtle Doctor," Duns 
Scotus, both of the Order of St. Francis, would deserve more than 
a passing notice. 

Soon, however, there arose dissensions amongst the Scholastics 
themselves. All agreed in the dogmas of Faith, and in all 
important philosophical questions as well. But in points not so 
directly bearing on revealed truths they reserved the liberty 
of disagreeing, unless forced by proofs which they themselves 
recognized as valid. These disputes at times assumed a character 
little in keeping with professorial dignity or even with Christian 
charity, and considerably retarded progress in theological and 
philosophical investigation. But they leave intact the immense 
merits of the Scholastic systems as such. 



298 LEARNING AND ARTS [§277 

The other branches of learning were studied with equal vigor 
in the universities. Albert the Great and Roger Bacon were 
by no means the only representatives of natural science. As a 
matter of fact, however, this study declined in the course of the 
fourteenth century. The great minds of the time were taken 
up with theological and philosophical controversies, and, on 
the other hand, the popular mind does not seem to have been 
prepared for great progress in this line. That the Church 
officially opposed the sciences is an entirely unwarranted assertion. 

For Further Reading. — These questions have been admirably 
treated in Dr. Walsh's The Thirteenth, Greatest of Centuries, and The 
Popes and Science. Every chapter in these books is both interesting 
and instructive ; in particular, in the latter work, the chapters entitled : 
The Supposed Papal Prohibition of Dissection ; The Supposed Papal 
Prohibition of Chemistry, — in the former, What and How They 
Studied at the Universities ; Libraries and Bookmen ; Great Explorers 
and the Foundation of Geography. The very lucidly written History 
of Philosophy, by Right Rev. Wm. Turner, which gives Scholasticism 
its proper treatment, may also be consulted. 

D. Architecture 

277. The Older Styles. — iVs models for their own churches 
the first Christians did not take the ancient pagan temples, 
which had never served as places for religious assemblies of the 
people but merely as sanctuaries for the gods or goddesses. 
The divine services of the Christians, which are a communion 
of the people with their God and Redeemer, called for buildings 
in which the whole congregation could gather. Hence the 
basilicas, which served for the sessions of the courts of justice 
and for purposes of commerce, were much better adapted to their 
needs. They were rectangular halls, often divided lengthwise 
by rows of columns, with a semicircular apse at one end. (See 
Ancient World, § 623.) Few changes were required to trans- 
form such buildings into churches. For several centuries the 
Christian places of worship were erected in the Basilica Style. 



§277] 



MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE 



299 




Cathedral of Amiens. — Gothic style. Begun in 1220. 
finest of medieval structures. 



One of the 



300 LEARNING AND ARTS [§278 

In the countries of the Greek Empire this style was partly 
replaced by the Byzantine Style, which groups the whole struc- 
ture around one or several rotundas or semirotundas. (See 
picture of St. Sophia, near § 63.) 

Architecture, as indeed all arts, suffered greatly during the 
invasions of the Teutons. And, except in the lands under 
Byzantine influence, few buildings of note were erected. About 
the year 1000, however, a new style developed slowly from the 
older basilica. It is called Romanesque or, in Northern Italy, 
Lombard ; in Normandy and England, Norman. The buildings 
became larger and higher, and their ground 'plan assumed the 
form of a cross. For the flat ceiling or open rafters of the roof a 
round-arched vault was substituted. The round arch is em- 
ployed in doors, windows, and other parts of the building. 
Hundreds of churches, erected in this majestic and imposing 
style, are still standing. They commonly have several towers, 
which form an integral part of the plan of the structure. 

278. The Gothic Style ^ originated in northern France about 
1200, and spread to all Christian countries. In Italy and 
Spain, however, it never obtained the dominant position which 
it enjoyed in France, England, and Germany. The architects 
of this enterprising age were looking for something grander than 
the Romanesque style could offer. The width of the round 
arch must always be exactly twice its height. The round 
ceiling rested entirely on the side walls of the building. These 
consequently had to be made very strong, and could not afford 
to be weakened by the insertion of numerous wide windows. 
The architect of the twelfth century introduced the pointed arch, 
which admits of a great variety as to width and height. He, 
moreover, broke up the vault itself by inserting cross ribs, 
which instead of resting the weight of the vault against the wall's 

^ This appellation, now firmly established in the terminology of archi- 
tecture, is a misnomer and was originallj^ used in Italy as a term of contempt. 
The Gothic style has nothing to do with either the East or the West Goths. 



§278] 



THE GOTHIC STYLE 



301 



entire length transferred it to several points. These points, 
therefore, carried the whole side thrust of the vault. To 
give them the necessary strength various means were 
employed, the most ingenious being the flying buttress, 
which instead of making the wall look more massive and 




Flying Buttresses. — From Norwich Cathedral. 

clumsy could easily be so devised as to add to the grace and 
richness of the building. The walls might now be made 
lighter, and they admitted more and larger windows. The 
structure rose still more in height. The plans generally pro- 
vided for pointed spires. The towers, though perhaps not so 
numerous as in the Romanesque style, presented less massive 
sides. Everywhere the vertical line began to dominate and the 
horizontal line to disappear. The entire structure grew into 



302 LEARNING AND ARTS [§279 

one Sursunt Corda (lift up your hearts) expressed in stone. 
Many people consider the Gothic churches the grandest build- 
ings man has ever devised. 

The secular buildings of the Gothic period, too, have their peculiar 
character, though they commonly do not possess all the characteristic 
features of the style. But the grand city halls of Flanders and Ger- 
many, the manors of medieval England, and the castles of Northern 
France show the possibilities of the Gothic architecture along lines dis- 
tinct from that of church building. 

279. The other fine arts were practiced chiefly in connection with and 
in dependence on architecture and were therefore less developed. The 
painters, for instance, had not as yet quite learned how to introduce 
perspective into their pictures, or to represent the members of the human 
body in correct proportions. But a very creditable beginning had been 
made. The sculptors, too, produced statues for decorative purposes, 
many of which are of considerable value. 

For Further Reading. — "The Cathedral-Builders of Medieval 
Europe," in Bp. Shahan's The Middle Ages, pp. 311-354. Also chap- 
ters on several arts (easy to find) in Walsh's Thirteenth, Greatest of 
Centuries. 

Exercises.— (l)Dates : 1077 (Canossa), 1122, 1107, 1096-1291 (Cru- 
sades), 1187, 1216 (Dominican Order Approved), 1223 (Franciscan 
Order x\pproved), 1274 (Death of St. Thomas Aquinas). 

(2) List of terms for brief explanation, e.g. Ivingdom of Jerusa- 
lem, Latin Empire, Craft Gilds, Byzantine Style, etc., Godfrey of 
Bouillon, Innocent III, Gregory VII, etc. 



PART II. FROM THE END OF THE CRUSADES 
TO THE DISRUPTION OF RELIGIOUS 

UNITY 

CHAPTER XV 

ENGLAND AND FRANCE 

We left the story of England in § 186 with the accession of Ed- 
ward III in 1327, and the story of France, in § 196, with the rule of 
Philip the Fair, which closed in 1314. For the next hundred and thirty 
years, the stories of the two countries are intertwined^. 

A. First Two Periods of the Hundred Years' War 

280. Opening of the Struggle. — When Edward III came to 
the throne (1327-1377) most of England's old possessions 
in France were gone ; but he was still Duke of Aquitaine — 
and, in name, a vassal of the French king for that province. 
Like Edward I, the third Edward strove strenuously — but 
vainly — to unite Scotland to England by arms ; and the 
French king, continuing the old policy of Philip Augustus 
(§ 192), toward his too powerful vassal, gave aid to Scotland. 
Therefore, in 1338, Edward gladly seized an excuse to declare 
war on France. This was the beginning of the " Hundred 
Years' War," which lasted, with two truces, until 1453. 

281. To strengthen his position Edward set up a fanciful 
claim to the French crown ; ^ and from that time until the 

1 The following table gives the Capetian kings for this period, with dates 
of accession. See § 191 for the earlier Capetians. 

Louis X 1.314 Charles IV . '. ^ 1322 

Philip V 1316 Philip VI (Valois) .... 1328 

303 



304 



ENGLAND AND FRANCE 



[§281 



nineteenth century, each English king kept also the title '' King 
of France." But at bottom the war was commercial in purpose. 
England wanted markets for her products. In particular, her 
merchants wanted to sell their wool in the Flemish manufacturing 
towns, and to buy the famous Bordeaux wines of Aquitaine. In 





Dress of French Ladies, Four- 
teenth Century. 

1. Middle Class ; 2. Lower Class; 
3. Nobility. 



English Lady on Horseback, 
Fourteenth Century. 



that day every country shackled foreign merchants with re- 
strictions and tolls ; and the easiest way to get access to French 
markets seemed to be to conquer France. 



John 1350 Louis XI 1461 

Charles V (the Wise) . . . 1364 Charles VIII 1483 

Charles VI .- . 1380 Louis XII 1498 

Charles VII 1422 Francis I 1515-1547 

The first three were sons of Philip IV, and left no sons. The French 
nobles then chose Charles' cousin, Philip of Valois, for king. The mother 
of Edward III was a daughter of Philip the Fair. French law, however, did 
not recognize inheritance of the crown through females. And if it had, then, 
through other princesses, there were French nobles with better claims than 
Edward. Edward did not put forward his claim until after war had begun. 



§283] HUNDRED YEARS' WAR — FIRST PERIODS 305 



Lutterworth 



282. The war was waged on French soil. — The English 
gained brilHant victories, overran France repeatedly, and 
brought home much plunder. " No woman," says an Enghsh 
chronicler, '' but had robes, furs, featherbeds, and utensils, from 
French cities." England was prosperous, too, in the early 
period of the war. The people felt none of its direct ravages 
— except for occa- 
sional raids by Nor- 
man pirates on the 
coast — and for 
many years they 
bore cheerfully the 
cost of campaigns 
abroad. 

283. The Battle 
of Crecy. — The two 
great victories of 
this first period of 
the war were Crecy 
and Poitiers. 

In 1346 Edward 
led an army through 
the north of France, 
ravaging crops, burn- 
ing peasant villages, 
and turning the 
country into a black- 
ened desert, to within sight of the walls of Paris, — in the 
usual fashion of warfare in those chivalrous days. Philip VI 
(less capable than most Capetians but a brave prince) gathered 
the feudal forces of France in an immense host to crush the 
invader. Edward III retreated toward the coast, but was 
overtaken at Crecy by five times his numbers and won a com- 
plete victory. 




Localities of Hundred Years' War. 



306 ENGLAND AND FRANCE [§283 

Edward III had drawn up his troops, less than sixteen thousand in 
all, on the slope of a hill, with a ditch in front to check the charge of 
horsemen. Behind the ditch stood the English bowmen, the main force 
of the army ; and Edward even dismounted his few hundred men-at- 
arms to fight on foot among them and so strengthen their lines against a 
charge. This force, which was to meet the French onset, was placed 
under the command of the king's oldest son, the young Edward, known 
better as " the Black Prince," while King Edward III, with a reserve, 
took stand higher up the hill. 

The first charge of the French nobles seemed for a moment about to 
swallow up the little English army, and the young Edward sent to his 
father for reenforcement. But the king from his higher ground could 
see that all was going well. " Is my son dead, or unhorsed, or wounded? 
Then go back, and bid them not send to me again so long as he lives. 
Let the boy win his spurs, for, if God so please, I will that the honor 
of the day be his." 

The honor really belonged to the English yeomen, — the men of 
the six-foot long-bow and heavy, yard-long shafts winged with 
feathers from gray-goose wings. The English free peasants 
were trained from childhood to draw " a mighty bow " — as 
English ballads called the national weapon — by "laying the 
body to it," when main strength, unskilled, could not have 
bent it. The archer shot nearly a quarter of a mile (four hun- 
dred yards), and drove his arrows through all ordinary iron 
armor ; or, if the knight were clothed in " armor of proof " 
from Milan, he took deadly aim, at closer quarters, at openings 
for eyes and mouth, or at any exposed joint. Confidjent in 
their skill the bowmen coolly faced the ponderously charging 
mass, pouring in their arrows, says a French chronicler, " wher- 
ever they saw the thickest press," and letting few French knights 
reach the English lines. ^ 

One chronicler of the day says that gunpowder was used at Crecy. 
The Enghsh, he reports, had several small " bombards," " which, with 
fire, and noise like God's thunder, threw little iron balls to frighten the 
horses!" Cannon certainly came into use about this time; but the 

1 Ogg's Source Book, No. 76, gives Froissart's description of Crecy. 



§284] HUNDRED YEARS' WAR — FIRST PERIODS 307 



first ones were made by fastening bars of iron together with hoops ; and 
the gunpowder was full of impurities and very weak. Cannon were of 
little use for a century or more. Then they began to be used to batter 
down the walls of castles and cities. It was longer still before firearms 
became the chief weapon of the infantry. 

A sequel to the battle of Crecy was the siege and capture of 
Calais, the port that dominates the narrowest place of the 
Channel. It remained in English hands for two centuries, — 
an ever open door for an 
invasion of France. 

284. Poitiers — Peace of 
Bretigny. — Ten years later 
the Black Prince, now in 
sole command, repeated 
the victory of Crecy at 
Poitiers with the same 
tactics. The invincibility 
of the feudal horseman was 
gone. King John the Good 
of France with countless 
French noblemen became 
prisoners. 




Bombard." — From a sixteenth cen- 
tury German woodcut. 



The misery caused by the devastations of this war, together with the 
heavy ransoms for the captured lords, which ultimately had to come 
from the peasants, caused a terrible rising of the rural population. It 
is called the Jacquerie, from Jacques Bonhomme, which from this time 
on was the nickname for the lower classes. Bands amounting to a 
hundred thousand men roamed through the West and the North of 
France without plan or leader, inspired only with a blind passion for 
wholesale destruction. The nobles and the cities retaliated with every 
manner of cruelty. The movement brought no alleviation whatsoever 
to the peasants. 

By the Peace of Bretigny, 1360, Edward III retained the 
possession of Aquitaine as a French vassal, but gave up all 
claims to anything north of the Loire except Calais. . 



308 ENGLAND AND FRANCE [§285 

285. The Second Period of the War. — In 1369 a dispute con- 
cerning Aquitaine found both parties eager to renew the war. 
The French king now was Charles V (The Wise), and the 
victories all belonged to the French side. Place after place 
fell to them, until, at the end, in 1380, England kept only two 
towns, — Bordeaux and Calais. 

B. English Development during the War 

286. The Black Death. — French success in the second period 
of the war had been due not alone to Charles the Wise, but 
even more to new conditions in England. The happy pros- 
perity of the first part of the reign of Edward III had received a 
terrible shock from the Black Death. This was the most 
famous of all the plagues of history. It had been devastating 
the continent for some years, — moving west from Asia, — and 
it is believed to have carried off at least a third of the population 
of Europe. In 1347, the year after Crecy, it reached England, 
and almost at a blow it certainly swept away a third of the people 
there. One bright fact shines out from the universal misery — 
the splendid devotion of the clergy and religious. They might 
easily have kept themselves safest ; but everywhere, through 
their self-sacrificing care of the dying, they suffered most. 
In some counties, more than two thirds of the parishes were 
left without clergy.^ 

287. Serfdom Begins to Disappear. — The ravages of the 
Black Death had at least one good effect for the lower classes. 
They accelerated the cessation of serfdom. As the plague had 
carried off at least one half of the farm laborers, the survivors 
thought that labor had risen in value and refused to do the same 
amount of work as before the plague, unless they were given 
additional wages. Parliament directly interposed, forbidding 
the lords to pay more and the laborers to demand more than 

1 See Gasquet, The Black Death, Chapters IX, " The Desolation of the 
Country," and X, "Some Consequences of the MortaHty." 



§287] HUNDRED YEARS' WAR — ENGLAND 309 

formerly.^ Such prohibitions, though at times cruelly en- 
forced, were very commonly evaded by both the employers and 
employees. To keep his serfs from running away the landlord 
made more and more favorable terms with them. The tend- 
ency was to allow the villeins to pay money rent instead of 
giving his services, and then to hire him back for money wages. 
This movement, however, which would make the villeins free 




A Fourteenth Century Bridge in Rural England, near Danby in 
Oxfordshire. — From Jusserand, English Wayfaring Life. 

yeomen, was very slow. Half-freed serfs were often forced back 
into serfdom by legal trickery and downright violence. The 
farming population continued in a state of unrest for a hundred 
years. 

During this period of deep dissatisfaction a man arose whose 
teachings were destined to be of serious consequences for England 
and still more for the continerit. 

1 The Pennsylvania Reprints (II, 5) gives the famous Statute of Laborers. 



310 



ENGLAND AND FRANCE 



[§288 



288. John Wyclif was a professor of considerable reputation 
at the university of Oxford. At this time the popes who resided 
at Avignon in France (§ 328) and were cut off from most of the 
sources of their revenue in Italy, insisted upon the payment of 
taxes by ecclesiastical dignitaries. Their demands, though 
justifiable in themselves, were opposed in England as well as in 
the rest of Europe. Moreover, the pitiable dearth of priests 
caused by the Black Death inclined the authorities to lower the 




English Carriage, Fourteenth Century. — After Jusserand, English 
Wayfaring Life. In the manuscript from which this picture is taken, the 
carriage is represented drawn by five horses tandem, driven by two pos- 
tilions. Such carriages were a princely luxury, equaling in value a herd 
of from four hundred to sixteen hundred oxen. They were the extra trains 
of those times. 

standard for those to be promoted to the priesthood. All this, 
together with his unaccountable aversion for the Mendicant 
Orders, became for John Wyclif the occasion of a violent opposi- 
tion against the members of all religious Orders and the clergy in 
general. The Church, he maintained, must have no temporal 
goods at all. The secular authority must deprive the clergy of 
all their possessions. At any rate, no man who is in the state 
of mortal sin can be the owner of anything. Strong as were his 
teachings upon clerical poverty, however, they failed to impress 
him with the desirability of giving up the ecclesiastical property 
which he himself had obtained — the rich vicarage of Lutter- 



§289] HUNDRED YEARS' WAR — ENGLAND 311 

worth. Nor was he consistent enough to apply the mortal sin 
principle to the possessions of secular lords. He soon denied 
transubstantiation, a fact which made him a heretic even in 
the eyes of the less educated, though in his controversies he 
cloaked his denial in obscure language. To have ready at hand 
an authority to oppose to that of the Church he declared the 
Bible the sole source of Faith. He falsified the existing trans- 
lations of the Bible to suit his heresies.^ He was as untiring as 
he was violent in his attacks upon the clergy, the bishops, 
and the pope. The blameless morality and abstemiousness of 
his private life contributed a great deal to increase his power 
over the common people. Prominent dissatisfied noblemen, 
above all the powerful John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster 
(see note to § 291), took him under their protection. 

289. Lollardism. — To spread his errors far and wide Wyclif 
organized, about 1380, the poor priests who were to travel up 
and down the country and preach his new doctrines. Very few 
of them were real priests. They and their adherents were called 
Lollards (from a word which means to sing in a low voice). 
They went farther in their doctrines than their master, de- 
claimed against the celibacy of the clergy, made the validity of 
the sacraments depend upon the worthiness of the minister, 
rejected ceremonies and pilgrimages (a famous shrine of the 
Blessed Virgin in Walsingham they nicknamed the Witch of 
Walsingham), and, of course, they denied the presence of Jesus 
Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. More consistent than Wyclif 
himself, many of them demanded that laymen, too, if in mortal 
sin, should be deprived of their offices and property. Their 
invectives against the rich sound very much like the talk of 
present-day socialists. Such harangues did not fail to make an 
impression at a time when the minds of the working classes were 
agitated by a keener sense of the real and imaginary wrongs 
they were suffering, and by the desire of an improvement which, 

1 See Gasquet, Eve of the Reformation, Chapter VIII. 



312 ENGLAND AND FRANCE [§290 

they thought, was almost within their reach. How far WycUf 
and his Lollards are directly- responsible for the events next to be 
treated cannot now be ascertained. 

Lollardism remained a danger for about fifty years. Ecclesiastical 
and secular authorities combined for its suppression, for which they 
resorted to the methods of the Inquisition. By the middle of the fif- 
teenth century the heresy had ceased to have any noticeable influence. 
The formation of the AngUcan Church by Henry VIII is entirely in- 
dependent of Lollardism. The logical successors of Wyclif are not to 
be sought in England but in Bohemia (§ 332). 

290. The general confusion was increased by weakness in the 
government. — Edward's hand lost its firm control, in old age, 
with much sickness and family trouble, and he died in 1377. 
His eldest son, the Black Prince, had died before him ; and he 
was succeeded by his grandson.^ That prince, Richard II, was 
a mere boy, and the government was distracted by dissensions 
among his counselors. 

1 The following table will show the succession of English kings for the rest 
of this chapter ; also the conflicting claims that will call for attention in § 299. 
For Edward III, refer back to the table in § 187. 

(1) Edward III (1327-1377) 



I \ \ I 

Edward Lionel John of Gaunt Edmund^ Duke 

the Black Prince 



(d. 1376) 

I Philippa 



Duke of of YORK 

LANCASTER 



(3) Henry IV (1399-1413) 

(4) Henry V (1413-1422) 



(2) Richard II (1377-1399) 
(deposed) 

Roger I 

> Earl of March (5) Henry VI (1422-1461) 

(deposed) 



t 

Atipp* Richard 

Richard, Duke of York 



I 1 

(6) Edward IV (.8) Richard III 
(1461-1483) (1483-1485) 

(7) Edward V 

(1483) 



§291] 



HUNDRED YEARS' WAR — ENGLAND 



313 



291. The Peasant Rising of 1381. — While England was in 
this state of confusion and discontent, Parliament passed a 
heavy poll tax, bearing with unfair weight on the poor. This 
proved a match to set the 
realm ablaze. With amaz- 
ing suddenness, the peas- 
antry rose in arms. From 
all sides they marched upon 
London, destroyed the deer 
parks and fishponds of the 
gentry, slew the lawyers and 
court officials whom they 
chanced to meet, burned the 
court rolls which testified 
to the villeins' services, and 
after much destruction and 
plundering in the metrop- 
olis, murdered the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury.^ The 
lawlessness, however, did not 
go so far as might have been 
expected. The boy king 
with rare courage rode out 
among the insurgents. Wat 
Tyler, the most dangerous 
of their leaders, drew his 
dagger against the king. He 
was instantly dispatched by 
Walworth, the Mayor of 
London. The king promised 
the peasants abolition of 




Effigy from the Tomb of the Black 
Prince. — On the left side of his 
armor appears the English royal coat 
of arms, the Leopards ; on the right 
side the French lilies, to signify his 
and his father's claim to the crown 
of France (§281). 



^ In spite of these excesses, the English peasants did not show that spirit 
of wanton destruction which characterized the Jacquerie in France (§ 284), 
and the Peasants' War in Germany (§ 361). 



314 ENGLAND AND FRANCE [§292 

serfdom. For days a force of thirty clerks was kept busy writ- 
ing out brief charters containing the king's promises. But when 
the peasants had scattered to their villages, both houses of Par- 
liament declared that Richard's promise was void, because he 
could not give away the gentry's property — the services due 
to them — without their consent , Now that the danger was 
over, the ringleaders of the rising w^ere punished without mercy. 

This outcome of the unfortunate revolt considerably 
strengthened the opposition of the possessing classes to a 
liberation of the serfs. But services unwillingly rendered 
cannot be long maintained. As the years passed, the conditions 
which made for the abolition of serfdom were too strong. 
After some time the same movement set in again^ and by 1450 
villeinage had passed away from England forever. 

292. The growth of parliament during the Hundred Years' 
War was very important. Constant war made it necessary for 
Edward III and his successors to ask parliament for many grants 
of money. Parliament supplied the king generously ; but it took 
advantage of his needs to secure new powers for itself. These 
gains may be classed under nine heads. 

(1) It became an established principle that '' redress of 
grievances " must 'precede a " grant of supply." ^ That is, the 
king must consent to such new laws as parliament wanted be- 
fore it gave him money to carry on his government. 

(2) In the closing years of Edward III the Good Parliament 
(1376) " impeached " and removed his ministers, using the 
same forms that have been used in impeachments ever since in 
English-speaking countries. 

(3) When Richard II was old enough to take the govern- 
ment into his own hands, he tried to rule without parliament. 
He put to death, or drove into exile, leading nobles whose 
opposition he feared ; and then, surrounding parliament with 
his troops, he compelled it to grant him a tax for life, with 
other absolute powers. Soon England rose against him, and 



§292] HUNDRED YEARS' WAR — ENGLAND 315 

the Parliament of 1399 deposed him, electing a cousin (Henry of 
Lancaster) in his place. 

Richard II was the last Plantagenet king. The note to § 290 gives 
the Lancastrian reigns and those of the family that followed. 

Richard's reign began with bloody treachery toward the English 
peasants, and it ended when he attempted equal treachery toward the 
nobles and middle classes. Shakspere has won undeserved sympathy 
for the tyrant by the pathetic lines put into his mouth at deposition, 
when Richard declares his willingness to give — 

" My gorgeous palace for a hermitage, 
My gay apparel for an alms-man's gown . . . 
And my large kingdom for a little grave." 

But we must understand that this deposition by parliament is one of 
the chief landmarks in the growth of English (and American) free- 
dom. The next kings owed their title to parliament, and were dependent 
upon it. 

(4) The new king, Henry IV, frankly recognized his depend- 
ence on parliament. Under him the lower house (House of 
Commons ; § 183) made good its claims that all money bills 
must originate with it (a practice that has been common to all 
English-speaking legislatures ever since), and that the royal 
officers must reporjt to it the way in which they expended 
money (1407). 

(5) The Commons secured the right to judge of the election 
of their own members. 

(6) They compelled the king to dismiss his ministers and 
appoint new ones satisfactory to parliament. 

(7) Freedom of speech in parliament and freedom from 
arrest, except by the order of parliament itself, became recog- 
nized privileges of all members. 

(8) On three different occasions during Henry's reign, parlia- 
ment passed acts fixing the succession to the throne. 

(9) So far, when parliament had wanted a new law, it only 
petitioned the king to enact one of a given kind. When the 



316 ENGLAND AND FRANCE [§293 

king had consented, and parliament had adjourned, the royal 
officers, in putting the law into form, often inserted words 
which really defeated parliament's purpose. But now, under 
Henry V (1414), parliament began to pass '' bills," which the 
king had to accept or reject, and the wording of which he 
could not change without reference back to parliament. 

293. The " Liberties of EngUshmen." — Thus under the Lan- 
castrians there was established in the breasts of the English 
middle classes a proud consciousness of English liberty as a 
precious inheritance. With right they believed it superior to 
that possessed by any other people of the time. As a French 
historian says (Duruy, Middle Ages, 436), " In the middle of 
the fifteenth century, the English people had in Magna Carta 
a declaration of their rights, in the jury a guarantee for their 
safety as individuals, and in parliament a guarantee for national 
liberty." 

C. France — Close of the Hundred Years' War 

294. Third Period of the Hundred Years' War. — In 1415, 
after a generation of peace with France, Henry V renewed 
the Hundred Years' War. He had no clear excuse; but he 
was fired by ambition, and he saw an opportunity in the dis- 
order in France under an insane king (Charles VI). He was 
brilliantly successful. At Agincourt he won a victory which 
recalled the days of Crecy and Poitiers (§ 283). The mighty 
Duke of Burgundy went over to his side. A peace treaty made 
him regent during the lifetime of Charles VI with the right of 
succession after the mad king's death. The son of Charles, 
" the Dauphin," as the heir ofthe throne was called, was simply 
passed over in the agreement. Both kings died within a short 
time of each other. The Dauphin held a feeble sway over the 
country south of the Loire. An English regent ruled in the 
North of France in the name of young Henry VI. 



§295] CLOSE OF HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 317 

But when the Enghsh were besieging Orleans, the last strong- 
hold of the Dauphin in the North, the tide began to turn. 
Joan of Arc, afterward called the " Maid of Orleans," saved the 
city, conducted the Dauphin to Reims, the ancient coronation 
city of the French kings, and had him crowned with the usual 
ceremonies. This act established him in the eyes of the nation 
as the lawful king, and revived the patriotism of the French. 
To offset the moral effect of this coronation, the English brought 
young Henry VI to Paris and had him crowned there by an 
English Cardinal. But it was to no avail. Their hold on 
Northern France was waning. By 1453 they had lost every 
inch of French soil except Calais. 

295. Joan of Arc, a simple country girl of seventeen years, presented 
herself in the camp of Charles VII and declared that she had been 
ordered by " heavenly voices " to relieve Orleans and conduct the king 
to Reims to be crowned. For six weeks she was subjected to a severe 
examination by learned divines and magistrates. Finally Charles VII 
admitted her to his presence. To try her once more he mingled in 
disguise among his courtiers, but she identified him at once and revealed 
to him a secret known only to himself. She was given charge of a small 
army. In full view of the besiegers she led a convoy of supplies into 
Orleans and then headed a number of sorties so vigorous, that within 
eight days the English withdrew. Through a country swarming with 
English and Burgundian forces and studded with hostile castles and 
fortresses she led Charles VII to Reims where he was crowned ac- 
cording to the traditional rite. Now that her mission was fulfilled, she 
insisted that she must return to her humble home and occupation. 
But she was prevailed upon to remain. The following year she fell 
into the hands of the Burgundians, who sold her to the English 
for 10,000 francs. 

Angered and mortified at their defeat by a young peasant woman, the 
English determined to represent her to the world as an ally of the devil. 
With flagrant injustice an ecclesiastical court tried her for witchcraft. 
King Charles VII, to whom she had given a kingdom, made not even the 
slightest attempt to save her. She was condemned as a sorceress and 
heretic and burned at the stake in the city of Rouen. She died with the 
heroism of a martyr, protesting her innocence and invoking the name of 
Jesus jmtil she expired. Many of the English spectators exclaimed : 



318 



ENGLAND AND FRANCE 



[§295 




Joan of Arc at Orleans. — From the modern picture in the Pantheon 

at Paris. 



§296] CLOSE OF HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 319 

" We are lost ; we have murdered a Saint." Twenty years later, after 
the French had retaken Rouen, the process was reexamined by order of 
the pope, and in the same city the decree of her rehabilitation was 
published with great solemnity and rejoicing. In 1909 she was beati- 
fied by Pope Pius X, and Benedict XV in 1919 concluded the process 
of her canonization. 

Blessed Joan of Arc is one of the most remarkable personages of his- 
tory. This peasant girl of little more than high-school age was an 
accomplished army leader and sat in the war councils of France. When 
only nineteen she testified to the supernatural character of her mission 
by a martyr's death and became the glory and pride of her nation and 
of the entire Christian world. Her beatification called forth expressions 
of enthusiasm not only among the patriots of Catholic France, but 
even among the descendants. Catholic and non-Catholic, of the English 
against whom she fought and who brought her to death. ^ 

» 296. The French Kingship. — Charles VII, in spite of his 
detestable desertion of Joan of Arc, proved a great king. He 
restored order with a firm hand. Bands of ''free lances" 
(mercenary soldiers) had been living on the country for gen- 
erations and had earned the name " flayers " from their methods 
of torture to discover valuables. All such bands were now 
driven from France ; and prosperity came back swiftly to the 
exhausted peasantry and the towns. 

During the long war, and after it, while breaking up the 
" flayers," Charles had maintained a standing army. This 
force he was careful to keep when the troubles were over. 
He had also a train of artillery, which now made him able 
easily to batter the castle of any feudal rebel about his ears. 
During the war,^ too, the kings had raised taxes arbitrarily, of 
necessity. They continued to do so, now that the national 
necessity had passed. The Estates General (§ 195) lost all 
chance to become a real power, and the monarchs grew absolute. 
The nobles of France made one last desperate attempt to 
check this royal despotism when Louis XI came to the throne, 



1 Special Report on Joan of Arc. — Wyndham's The Maid of Orleans 
discusses the pretended evidence against the supernatural character of the 
Maid's Mission. See book list. 



320 ENGLAND AND FRANCE [§297 

but were quickly crushed. The young Louis won his victories 
mainly by cunning. Through his reign, he chose his chief 
advisers and ministers from men of low position, who could 
not gain by turning against him ; and before his death feudalism 
had ceased to be a political danger even more completely than 
in England. Louis XI ranks alongside Philip II, Augustus, 
St. Louis IX, Philip IV, the Fair, and Charles V, the Wise, in 
numbering the kings who built up the French monarchy. 

297. The Growth of France Completed. — France came out of 
the Hundred Years' War, after vast destruction of property, 
after terrible periods of suffering, with territory consolidated, 
with a new patriotism binding her people together, and with 
her kings more absolute than ever. 

In §§ 192 and 193 we traced the growth of French territory 
to the opening of this war. The closing campaigns, after the 
victories of Joan, made the French king finally master of 
Aquitaine, the southwest quarter of France. The lower Rhone 
valley soon became entirely French (see map following page 
204). Other acquisitions were to follow in the northwest 
(§ 316). 

298. The next two kings were less capable. The reign of Charbs 
VIII is remarkable for his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Naples, 
where the family of Charles of Anjou had died out (§ 216). He 
failed utterly. After a series of vicissitudes Naples was reunited with 
Sicily, which had been under Aragonian rulers since 1282. Thus, in 
1505, the whole Kingdom of ike Two Sicilies became a Spanish possession, 
remaining, however, by right, a vassal state of the Holy See. 

D. England and the Wars of the Roses, 1454-1485 

299. The Wars of the Roses.^ — In 1422 Henry VI became 
king, while less than a year old (§ 300). His long minority gave 
time for factions to grow among the nobles ; and when Henry 
was old enough to assume the government, he proved too weak 
and gentle to restore order. The misrule of the great lords 

^ Stevenson's Black Arrow is an admirable story dealing with the age. 



299] 



THE WARS OF THE ROSES 



321 



caused wide discontent, especially among the rising towns, 
whose industries called for settled government ; and, encouraged 
by this discontent, the Duke of York came forward to claim the 
crown. Thus began the Wars of the Roses,^ to last from 1454 
to 1471. 

York was descended from a son of Edward III older than 
the one through whom the Lancastrians derived their claim to 




Warwick Castle. — Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (the " King-maker"), 
was a prominent leader in the Wars of the Roses. 

the throne ; ^ and the war, the most ruthless and bloody in 
English history, was largely a selfish contest between great 
nobles. At the same time the chief significance of the struggle 
lay in the fact that the Lancastrian strength was in the feudal 
nobility of the North of England, while York was supported by 
the new middle class of the towns in the South. 



1 The Yorkists assumed a white rose as their badge ; the Lancastrians, a 
red rose. Students may be asked to find the scene in which Shakspere 
represents the choice of these symbols. ^ Footnote to § 291. 



322 ' ENGLAND AND FRANCE [§300 

300. Finally, York and the Cause of the Towns Conquered. — 
Edward IV was a selfish and rather careless despot. His son, 
Edward V, was a child and was never crowned. It is believed 
that the regent, his uncle, murdered him. The murderer 
became king as Richard III. He was an atrocious tyrant, and 
was soon overthrown by a popular rising. Henry Tudor, a 
distant connection of the Lancastrians, led this rising, and be- 
came king as Henry VII. 

301. A " New Monarchy." — The losses in the long civil 
war had fallen mainly on the feudal classes. The old nobility 
was almost swept away in battle or by the headsman's ax. The 
new kings created new nobles (but kept them dependent on the 
crown), and set -to work skillfully to crush the scant remains of 
feudal independence. For instance, a law of Henry VII wisely 
forbade nobles to maintain armed bands of retainers — whose 
presence was always a source of disorder and a threat to peace. 

A few of the surviving old nobles at first disregarded this law. On a 
visit to one of these, — the great Earl of Oxford, — the king found an 
array of such armed retainers drawn up to salute him. Oxford had 
been one of Henry's earliest supporters for the throne ; biit now Henry 
frowned darkly: "I thank you for your good hospitali|y. Sir Earl; 
but I cannot have my laws broken in my sight." And Oxford was called 
before the king's court and ruined by a fine of £15,000, — some half 
million dollars in the values of to-day. 

302. Results of the Wars of the Roses. — The first plain 
result of this crushing of feudalism was a general loss of liberty. 
Without great nobles for leaders, the towns and the country 
gentry were not yet strong enough to challenge the royal 
power. So parliament lost authority. During the wars, it 
had not been possible to hold true parliaments ; and when war 
was over, the kings had been so enriched by confiscations of 
the property of opposing nobles that they did not need new 
taxes in ordinary times, and so could get along without calling 
parliaments. 



§303] A "NEW MONARCHY" 323 

Another new device helped the monarch to maintain this 
superiority. During the wars, a king had had to depend, not 
on parUamentary supplies, but on free-will gifts (benevolences) 
from men of wealth in his party. After the war, Edward IV 
continued to ask benevolences from leading men as he met 
them in traveling through the kingdom. Richard III had 
tried to secure popular favor by promising to surrender this 
evil custom ; but he soon practiced it in a more extortionate 
form than ever. And now Henry VII reduced it to a system 
of regular supply. He asked, no longer mereh^ in person, but 
by letter. His minister, Morton, sent out demands to rich 
men over all England. To some he said that their luxurious 
manner of living showed that they were easily able to supply- 
their king ; to others, that their economy of life proved that 
they must have saved wherewith to aid their sovereign's 
necessities. Thus every man of consequence in the realm 
found himself impaled, it was said, on one prong or the other 
of " Morton's Fork." ^ 

303. Thus England entered the sixteenth century under the 
Tudor kings with a " New Monarchy." — Henry VII and his 
son Henry VIII were more absolute than any preceding English 
kings. Still they were shrewd enough to cloak their power 
under the old constitutional forms, and so did not challenge 
popular opposition. They called parliament rarely, — and 
only to use it as a tool. Parliament did not play as large a 
part again for more than a hundred years as it had in the cen- 
tury before the Wars of the Roses. But the occasional 
meetings, and the way in which the kings seemed to rule 
through it, saved the forms of constitutional government. This 
was a mighty service. At a later time, as we shall see, life 
was again breathed into those forms. Then it became plain 

1 Perhaps the most important point of this story is that it reminds us of 
the recent introduction of forks (two-pronged instruments) at the table. 
They had come into use in Italy a little earlier. 



324 ENGLAND AND FRANCE [§304 

that, in crushing the feudal forces, the New Monarchy had 
paved the way for a parliamentary government more complete 
and valuable than men had dreamed of in earlier times. 

For Further Reading. — Corresponding chapters from Gardiner's 
Student's History. Guggenberger II, §§ 54-106. On the Hundred 
Years' War the student will enjoy the contemporary story of Froissart. 

Exercises like those suggested after § 218. 

E. Ireland 

304. English Ascendency. — In 1171 Henry II went to Ire- 
land and took possession of it as " Lord of Ireland " (§ 171). 
His dominion consisted principally of the " English Pale," a 
district varying in extent, with Dublin as its center and capital. 
The English colonists lived under English law, which did not 
protect the Irish in any way. Had there been a really fair 
government, Ireland might have flourished under the strong 
hand of the Anglo-Norman kings. But though many of the 
English noblemen lived on good terms with the natives, the 
latter on the whole were treated with brutal indignity. John 
Lackland (§ 177), when a young man of nineteen, was sent over 
by his father Henry II, but he offended the earlier English 
colonists by his utter neglect. He came a second time as 
king, and accomplished some good for the settlers by regulating 
the courts of justice. The natives, the mere Irish, or Irish 
enemies, were no better off for his coming. Nor did a similar 
visit of Richard II (§ 296) produce any different results. 

On one occasion the Irish sent " a remonstrance " to Pope John XXII 
in which they describe their sufferings. Any Englishman, they say, may 
prosecute an Irishman for an injury, but no Irishman can prosecute an 
Englishman. If an Englishman kills an Irishman, there is no penalty 
for the murderer. Moreover, " Irishmen are excluded from monastic 
institutions governed by Englishmen." 

305. Edward Bruce. — When Robert Bruce, a scion of the 
Celtic family of the Bruces, rose successfully in Scotland against 



§ 307] IRELAND 325 

the English (§ 180), a large Irish party invited his brother 
Edward to come to Ireland and assume the royal dignity. There 
was no lack of bravery in Edward Bruce's Scotch and Irish 
warriors. But in spite of all successes, dissensions among the 
chiefs brought about the complete failure of the projects. For 
three years this war wrought great confusion, devastation, and 
misery among the native population. But it also shook the 
English government of Ireland to its very foundations. 

" Both the Irish and the English lords became more in- 
dependent and consequently more tyrannical. So general, so 
needless, and well-nigh so insane had been the destruction of 
property, that vast numbers of people lost everything and sank 
into helpless poverty." 

306. Irish Gains. — One of the greatest mistakes, if not the 
greatest, made by the English was the contempt in which they 
held the descendants of their own first settlers. All offices of 
the Pale were given to English by Birth. Those Englishmen 
who were born in Ireland were looked down upon as Degenerate 
English. These English by Blood mixed more and more with 
the natives, intermarried with them, and adopted not only 
their language but even their dress and customs. The '' Statute 
of Kilkenny " threatened this practice with the severest penal- 
ties, but to no purpose. The fusion of the races went on in 
spite of the law. " As generations rolled by, the descendants 
of English immigrants became quite incorporated with the 
natives and indistinguishable from them in everything except 
their family names. This was especially the case with the 
great and powerful family of the Fitzgeralds." Many of these 
Anglo-Irish are said to have become more Irish than the Irish 
themselves. 

307. The Black Rent. — During the Hundred Years' War 
and the Wars of the Roses the hold of England upon Ireland 
grew weaker year by year. The colonists felt themselves so 
much at the mercy of the natives that they concluded agree- 



326 IRELAND [§307 

merits with certain Irish clans to pay a fixed yearly sum for 
protection against further molestations. This was the Black 
Rent. It became very common and formed a regular source 
of revenue for many Irish chiefs. 

The greatest Irish hero of this period was Art MacMurrough Kavanagh, 
a descendant of the archtraitor Dermot MacMurrough (§ 171). When 
eighteen years old he was chosen provincial king of Leinster, and imme- 
diately began his career as defender of the province. By a better 
knowledge of the country, and by bravery and superior generalship, he 
kept even the mighty host of Richard II at bay. For nearly half a 
century he preserved his independence just beside the Pale, in spite of 
every effort to bring him to submission. He died in 1417 — the most 
renowned Irish chief since Brian Boru (§ 102) .^ 

1 Much of the matter in this subdivision on Ireland has been taken from 
Patrick Weston Joyce's Short History of Ireland from the Earliest Times to 
1608, a 'book "written soberly and moderately, avoiding exaggeration and 
bitterness, and showing fair play all round." (Pref.) The way this 
book is arranged makes it very useful for "special reports." The first part 
describes the civilization of ancient Ireland, the matter being treated by 
topics. The rest proceeds in historical order, and the facts are chiefly 
grouped around personalities or important events. 



CHAPTER XVI 
GERMANY AND HER DEPENDENCIES 

308. The Interregnum. — Towards the end of the Hohenstaufen 
Period seven of the German princes had arrogated to themselves the 
exclusive right of choosing the King of the Romans. After the death of 
Conrad IV these seven " Electors " could not unite on one candidate. 
One faction elected Richard of Cornwall, brother of Henry III of 
England (§ 179). Richard visited his kingdom three times without 
exerting much influence. The other faction decided for Alphonso of 
Castile, who never saw Germany. The period 1254-1273, during 
which these two foreigners were supposed to rule, was marked by an 
almost complete absence of law and order. It was the heyday of 
club-law, when robber knights in ever-increasing number infested the 
country. To combat the evils of the period the city leagues grew into 
power (§ 259) and, as far as their influence reached, safeguarded the 
roads for traveling merchants. 

309. Rudolph of Hapsburg (1273-1291) was a man of sterling 
character, and likely to bring some order out of the chaos. His 
moderate possessions, southern Alsace and some territory in 
the Alps, made him acceptable to the great princes who did not 
want too powerful a king. His election was hailed with un- 
bounded joy by the people. Rudolph was sincerely religious. 
From the first he had the active support of the popes. He 
showed, however, little inclination to interfere in Italian affairs, 
but gave his undivided energy to the welfare of Germany 
itself. The robbers soon found out what kind of man the new 
king was. Along the Rhine alone he demolished a hundred 
and fifty of their castles, and on one memorable occasion hung 
twenty robber knights at a single execution. 

Rudolph was forced to draw the sword also for the integrity 
of the realm. King Ottokar of Bohemia (§ 105) had brought 

327 



328 GERMANY AND HER DEPENDENCIES [§310 

that country to a high degree of prosperity. But he sought 
to withdraw his possessions from the overlordship of the Empire. 
When summoned to pay homage (§ 118) to the new king for 
Bohemia and Moravia and to give up several other fiefs which 
he had occupied with very questionable right, he refused, even 
after Pope Gregory X had sent him an admonitory letter. War 
became inevitable. With greatly inferior numbers Rudolph 
defeated him. Ottokar fell in the battle. Rudolph bestowed 
Bohemia and Moravia upon Ottokar's iafant son. But most 
of the other fiefs, among them the dukedom of Austria (§ 200), 
he granted, with the consent of the German princes, to his own 
son Albrecht. Thus the family of the Hapsburgs was estab- 
lished in the land on the Danube, tvhich was destined to grow 
into the Austrian Monarchy under Rudolph's descendants. 

Rudolph's rule proved an immense blessing for Germany. 
But his actual influence did not extend very far into the North. 
The short reigns of the contemporary popes — there were eight 
during his own reign — must be assigned as one of the reasons 
that prevented his imperial coronation. 

310. For the next fifty years after Rudolph's death the crown 
passed from one family to the other. Rudolph's son Albrecht, 
Duke of Austria, however, was his father's second successor. 
Henry VII, of the House of Luxemburg, again went to Rome and 
was crowned emperor, but died soon after his coronation in 
Italy. He secured the succession of his son as king of Bohe- 
mia. King Louis, a Bavarian prince, for sixteen years at war 
with a rival, lived in unending opposition to the popes. He led 
an immoral life and broke the most solemn pledges. His reign is 
remarkable only because of the favor he bestowed upon the free 
cities. 

Here is the place to sum up the chief causes of the decline of 
Germany. They are : The disastrous Italian policy of some of 
the emperors, the complete electiveness of the royal office, 
the large number of short reigns, and the continuous change 




GJiRMAHiTY AliD 

JTAL.Y 

Durlns: the Interreenum 

aOACE OF- MH.E8 



§311] KING CHARLES OF BOHEMIA 329 

of the ruling houses. Concerning the latter points compare 
§§ 187, 189, and 206, note. To these causes will be added, in 
the coming centuries, the aggressiveness of strong foreign powers 
including the Turks, and the internal disunion fostered enor- 
mously by the Reformation. 

311. King Charles of Bohemia, grandson of Henry VII, 
succeeded as Charles IV (1347-1378). He had received his 
education in Paris, spoke Bohemian, German, French, and 
Latin, and was a great promoter of learning, literature, and art. 
In his residence, Prague, he established a university, the first 
in Germany, which was soon frequented by thousands of stu- 
dents. With the power of rich private dominions at his disposal 
he might have consolidated Germany or at least greatly retarded 
its disintegration. The cities and the lower nobility would have 
been his mighty allies. But his was too conservative a nature. 
On the whole, however, his rule was a happy one. He formally 
sanctioned the privileges of the seven Electors. His " Golden 
Bull " defined exactly how the " college of Electors " should 
make elections, and fixed its members as the three Archbishops of 
Mayence, Cologne, and Treves, the King of Bohemia, the Duke 
of Saxony, the Margrave of Brandenburg (§ 200), and the Count 
Palatine of the Rhine. Thus he forestalled arbitrariness in the 
royal elections at least to some degree. 

But the apple of his eye was his own kingdom of Bohemia. 
" Under the long reign of this wise and learned king," says a 
Bohemian writer, ^' the Bohemians themselves became wise 
and learned. The surrounding nations now sent their sons 
to the new university. Bohemians obtained the most important 
positions in the empire. Several foreign bishoprics received 
Bohemian bishops. The Bohemians were the most learned, 
the dominant nation in Europe. It was thought a great honor 
to be a Bohemian. The neighboring princes bought or built 
houses in Prague to live among the Bohemians." 

Another prominent ruler of the Luxemburg family was 



330 GERMANY AND HER DEPENDENCIES [§ 312 

Sigismund (1410-1437). In addition to his private possession 
of Bohemia he acquired by marriage the kingdom of Hungary. 
At the head of a crusading army of Hungarian, German, French, 
and other warriors he marched against the Turks, but was 
completely defeated in the battle of Nicopolis, 1396. His 
greatest merit was the prominent part he played in the happy 
termination of the Great Western Schism. This will be seen 
later. In the Empire he fulfilled the expectations entertained 
of him much less than Charles IV. 

312. From 1437 oriivard all the emperors were elected from the 
House of Hapsbiirg, the descendants of Rudolph. The dignity did 
not, however, simply become hereditary. The election always 
remained a reality. More than once the imperial crown was 
on the point of slipping away and nearly every election resulted 
in a further limitation of the royal power. One more reign 
during the present period is important, that of Maximilian. I 
(1493-1519). He found it impossible to go to Rome for his 
coronation, and the pope permitted him to style himself Emperor 
Elect. The only German ruler that was crowned emperor 
after him was his grandson Charles V. The others obtained 
the same privilege as Maximilian. The title of '' Roman King " 
(§ 202) was now reserved to those few who were elected during 
an emperor's lifetime to succeed him after his death. 

Maximilian I, called ''the Last of the Knights," is one of the 
most romantic figures of the closing Middle Ages. But most of 
his noble efforts to bring Germany abreast of England and 
France were frustrated by the jealousies of the princes and 
partly by his own dreamy nature. 

Until 1806 Germany was simply called " The Empire," and its ruler 
" The Emperor," because there was but one emperor in the Catholic 
world. Historians, however, occasionally use the appellations of 
"German Empire" and "German Emperor" with reference to those 
centuries. There was no Emperor of Austria then. But the ruler of 
the dominions of the House of Hapsburg was the Emperor of the Holy 
Roman Empire of the German Nation. 



§312] 



THE HAPSBURG DYNASTY 



331 




Illustration from a Fifteenth Century Manuscript, showing Max- 
imilian of Austria, his queen, Mary of Burgundy, axad their son Philip, 
who became the father of Emperor Charles V (§ 359). 



332 GERMANY AND HER DEPENDENCIES [§313 

313. Institutions of the Empire. — The Diet. During this period the 
German " national assembly " took form. It was called a Diet. In 
earlier times, it had been merely a gathering of nobles. In the four- 
teenth century representatives of the " Free and Imperial Cities " 
were admitted (§§ 260; 183, 195, 318). The Diet came to consist of 
three Houses, the Electors, the Princes, the City Representatives. 
To be binding a resolution had to be passed by at least two Houses, and 
by the emperor. But the execution of the laws thus adopted was 
always difficult and often impossible for the emperor. 

The honest endeavors of Maximilian I had scored at least some suc- 
cess. Under him private feuds were completely forbidden, a Supreme 
Tribunal was instituted to settle disputes, and for the purpose of a 
better enforcement of the laws and of carrying out the verdicts of the 
Tribunal, Germany was divided into ten " Circles.'' But it took some 
time before both institutions were in working order and able to do a 
limited amount of good. 

We have to register two events in the history of the Hapsburg 
dominions, one a loss, small but significant, the other a great 
and important gain. 

314. Switzerland. — In the mountains around Lake Lucerne 
there dwelt a sturdy race given to the pursuit of a simple 
agricultural and pastoral life. They had been under the sway 
of the Hapsburg dynasty long before King Rudolph. But 
about 1300 they claimed independence, and several non- 
Hapsburg kings granted them the right to rule themselves and 
be directly under the emperor. The Austrian dukes refused to 
recognize the lawfulness of this grant. Duke Leopold advanced 
with a strong army of knights to enforce what he thought was 
his right. The brilliant army was completely routed by the 
peasants. The battle of Morgarten, Nov. 15, 1315, is the 
birthday of Swiss liberty. In several other battles,^ assisted 
always by the nature of their rugged country, the brave moun- 
taineers maintained their freedom, and by and by increased the 
number of the httle " cantons " from the original three " Forest 

1 The myth of William Tell belongs to the period of Morgarten. It is 
a good subject for special reports. 



334 GERMANY AND HER DEPENDENCIES [§315 

Cantons" to eight and more. A rather loose tie connected 
the Cantons, each of which ruled itself independently. In 1481, 
when the whole alliance was on the point of breaking up, it was 
saved by the sudden appearance of a famous hermit, Blessed 
Nicholas of Flue, who within one hour settled all the difficulties. 
Within the empire the Swiss Alliance ranked with the princes. 
It remained politically a German country until the Peace of 
Westphalia, 1648. 

315. The Swiss victories, won by peasant infantry over the feudal 
array of armored knights, together with the battles of Legnano, Crecy, 
and Poitiers (§§ 208, 283, 284), mark the beginning of a new mode of 
warfare. The time of the mailed horseman was gone. The develop- 
ments in the use of gunpowder completely sealed his fate. 

The Swiss acquired fame as redoubtable warriors, whose assistance, 
either as allies or mercenaries, was sought by foreign powers. Many a 
throne was faithfully guarded by these free sons of the mountains. The 
last remnant of this custom is the Uttle Swiss " army " in the Vatican. 

316. Burgundy. — One of the kingdoms into which the realm 
of Charlemagne was finally divided was Burgundy, between the 
Rhone River and the Alps. This kingdom eventually became 
annexed to Germany (§ 206), but much of it was lost to France 
in the course of several centuries. To the northwest of the 
kingdom, there was the Dukedom of Burgundy, which had 
always been a French fief. There was also a County of Bur- 
gundy, which as part of the kingdom owed allegiance to Ger- 
many. Both the duchy and the county were finally united. 
The mighty Dukes of Burgundy found opportunities to in- 
corporate other large provinces, in particular the Nether- 
lands, that is, the greater part of present Holland and Belgium 
with some districts now belonging to France. (Map near 
§ 192.) Most of these acquisitions were German fiefs. Duke 
Charles the Bold (1467-1477) fell in an attempt to conquer 
the Duchy of Lorraine, which he intended to serve as a link 
between the northern and the southern part of his dominions. 



§ 317] BURGUNDY 335 

His daughter Mary, hy marrying Maximilian of Austria, the 
later emperor, brought her vast inheritance to the House of Hapsburg. 
On the plea of escheat the king of France, Louis XI, oc- 
cupied the Duchy of Burgundy and other French fiefs 
(§ 118) which greatly increased his domain. But Flanders 
escaped him. The acquisition of the German fiefs by Maxi- 
milian was, next to the winning of the Duchy of Austria (§ 309), 
the most momentous step in the development of the Hapsburg 
power. 

317. The Netherlands was one of the most flourishing countries in 
Europe. The several duchies and counties comprised under this name 
contained very rich and populous cities, where merchants from Italy ex- 
changed wares with those of the Hansa towns. It might even be said 
that they were rather workshops than trading rooms. " Nothing," 
says one historian, " reached their shores but received a more perfect 
finish ; what was coarse and almost worthless became transmuted into 
something beautiful and good." " The whole world," exclaims a 
thirteenth century English chronicler, " is clothed in English wool manu- 
factured in Flanders." Early in the crusading age the cities had won 
or bought their liberties. Each province had its Diet, where sat the 
nobles and the representatives of the cities. Mary, the daughter of 
Charles the Bold, had granted them The Great Privilege (1478) which 
further increased their influence upon the poUcies of their sovereign. 



CHAPTER XVII 
OTHER NATIONS IN THE SOUTH AND NORTH 

A. The Struggle against Mohammedanism 

318. The Spanish Peninsula. — The Mohammedan invasion 
of 711 (§ 73) separated the course of development in Spain 
from that of the rest of Europe. For centuries, " Africa began 
at the Pyrenees." 

The wave of Moorish invasion, however, had left uncon- 
quered a few resolute Christian chiefs in the remote fastnesses 
of the northwestern mountains, and Charlemagne recovered 
part, also, of the northeast (§ 84). In these districts, Asturia 
and the Spanish March, several little Christian principalities 
began the long task of winning back their land, crag by crag 
and stream by stream. This they accomplished in eight hundred 
years of war, — a war at once patriotic and religious, Spaniard 
against African, and Christian against Infidel (§ 231). The 
long struggle left the Spanish race proud, brave, warlike, intensely 
patriotic, and enthusiastically devoted to the Church. 

During the eight centuries of conflict, the Christian states 
spread gradually to the south and east, — waxing, fusing, 
splitting up into new states, uniting in kaleidoscopic com- 
binations by marriage and war, — until, before 1400, they had 
formed the three countries, Portugal, Aragon, and Castile. 
Portugal remained independent. In consequence of the 
marriage between Isabella, heiress of Castile, with Ferdinand 
II, " the Catholic," heir of Aragon (1469), the other two countries 
were eventually united and in later times were known as the 
Kingdom of Spain. In 1492 this combined power captured 

336 




SPANISH KINGDOMS IN THE MIDDX.E AGES 



§319] STRUGGLE AGAINST MOHAMMEDANISM 337 

Granada, the last Moorish stronghold on the peninsula, and 
Spain at home achieved national union. In 1505 Ferdinand 
added the Kingdom of Naples to the Spanish domain (§ 298). 
Portugal as well as Spain entered upon a period of discovery 
and colonization which made both mighty European states. 
But in European politics Spain by far outdid her smaller neigh- 
bor. 

The feudal lords of the many Spanish kingdoms had been the most 
uncontrollable in Europe. In each petty state they elected their king, 
and took the oath to obey him in forms like this : " We, who are each 
of us as good as thou, and who together are far more powerful than thou, 
swear to obey thee if thou dost obey our laws, and if not, not." 

The towns of Spain, too, had possessed charters of liberties of the 
most extreme character, and in various kingdoms they had sent rep- 
resentatives to the assembly of Estates, or the " Cortes," for more than 
a century before a like practice began in England. But Ferdinand of 
Aragon began to abridge all these privileges, and in the next two reigns 
the process was carried so far that Spain became one of the most absolute 
monarchies in Europe. 

Map Exercise. — " Castile " was at first merely a hne of " castles." 
It was a " mark state " : it shut off Aragon on one side and Leon on the 
other from any effective contact with the Moors, as Barcelona, Navarre, 
and Asturia had been shut off still earlier. After this was accomplished, 
Castile was the state most likely to grow to supremacy. Cf. Wessex in 
Britain, § 113. 

319. The Balkan Peninsula. — While the Mohammedan 
Moors were losing Spain, the barbarous Turks (§ 249) were 
gaining southeastern Europe. They established themselves on 
the European side of the Hellespont for the first time in 1346. 
In 1361 they conquered Adrianople and made it their capital, 
A crusade under Sigismund, then king of Hungary, was a failure. 
The Serbians and Bulgarians yielded more and more. The 
Greek Empire shrank to a narrow fringe along the coast in the 
immediate neighborhood of Constantinople. At Varna (1444) 
King Wladislaw III of Hungary and Poland, and Cardinal Cesa- 
jini, the papal legate, found a noble death on the battle field. 



338 NATIONS IN THE SOUTH AND NORTH [§320 

A chief cause of these successes was the " Tribute of Children " 
imposed on the conquered Christians. At stated times a certain pro- 
portion of strong and promising boys had to be dehvered up, to be 
educated in Mohammedanism and trained in the use of arhis. For 
three centuries the Janissaries, " new soldiers," recruited in this worse 
than barbarous fashion, formed the most dreaded part of the Turkish 
army. The strength of the Christians themselves was turned against 
Christianity. 

To enlist the assistance of the West, the Greek emperor had 
brought about a union of the Greek with the Latin Church. 
But this remedy proved unpopular on the Bosphorus. In 1453 
Sultan Mohammed II entered the city of Constantine the Great, 
after the last emperor, likewise a Constantine, with a small 
army of Greeks and Latins, had defended it heroically for eight 
weeks. 

Europe stood aghast. The popes, who had been the soul of 
the resistance to the Turks, again took up the defense of Chris- 
tianity. , 

" But the apathy and selfishness of the rulers rendered united action 
impossible. While the pope sold the treasures of art collected by his 
predecessor and even his own table service for the benefit of the cru- 
sade, the king of Naples spent the crusading moneys in his pleasures or 
on private wars; Charles VII of France (§ 295) prohibited the export 
of the collected sums and sent the fleet equipped by the French Church 
against England and Naples; the German princes talked in their 
Diets and intrigued against each other and against emperor and pope ; 
Christian of Denmark and Norway stole the crusading money from the 
sacristy of the cathedral of Roskilde." Guggenberger, II, § 115. 

320. Pope Calixtus III, of the crusading Spanish na- 
tion, worked with untiring energy for a new crusade. John 
Hunyady, administrator of the Kingdom of Hungary, who had 
for many years been warring with the Turks, and *S^. John 
Capistrano, a Franciscan friar, whom the pope had sent out as 
preacher of the new enterprise, collected an army which was reen- 
forced by thousands of Frenchmen, Germans, and Poles. Mo- 



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14- 




340 NATIONS IN THE SOUTH AND NORTH [§321 

hammed II, with the same army that had reduced Constan- 
tinople, laid siege to Belgrade on the southern bank of the 
Danube, now the most important stronghold of Christianity. 
A fleet, the ships of which had been chained together, was to 
prevent the approaching Christian host from crossing the river. 
But with two hundred small boats the indomitable Hunyady 
effected the passage, and his crusaders joined the garrison of the 
beleaguered city. The Turks continued their fierce attacks. 
But St. John Capistrano's addresses kept up the courage of the 
Christians. Finally a desperate sortie drove the Mohammedans 
into a headlong flight with the complete loss of their camp and 
most of their artillery, Aug. 6, 1456.^ The two heroes of this 
success, John Hunyady and the saintly Franciscan friar, died 
soon after. 

During the same time the little country of Albania was saved 
for a generation by a handful of mountaineers under their in- 
vincible leader George Castriota, commonly called by his 
Turkish epithet, Scanderhecj (Prince Alexander). 

Dissensions among the Turks under less warlike sultans gave 
some periods of respite to the Christian nations. The popes 
meanwhile endeavored to strengthen the resistive power of Hun- 
gary, until the greater part of that country, too, succumbed 
for a time to the power of the Crescent (§ 365). Unable to 
assimilate European civilization, the Turks remained like a 
hostile army encamped among subject Christian populations, 
and their baneful influence blighted and largely destroyed the 
ancient culture of many a conquered land. 

B. The Countries of the Northeast 

321. Poland, Prussia, Lithuania. — Poland had recovered 
from the helpless condition in which we found her at the begin- 

1 The Sultan's sumptuous tent was sent to the Holy Father, Pope Calixtus 
III. To commemorate this victory, the feast of the Transfiguration was 
instituted, to be celebrated in the whole Church on Aug. 6. 



§321] POLAND, PRUSSIA, LITHUANIA 341 

ning of the thirteenth century (§ 247). The Teutonic Knights 
now possessed a strong, well-ordered state between the Baltic 
Sea and Poland. But grave charges began to be raised against 
them. They insisted with rigor, nay cruelty, upon what they 
called their rights, and failed to respect Polish territory. In 
the course of the fourteenth century numerous frictions led to 
an ever-increasing enmity between the two neighbors. The in- 
tervention of vigorous popes, no doubt, would have prevented 
much of the dissension and removed many causes of enmity. 
But this was just the period of the unfortunate Western Schism 
with all its disastrous effects upon the general interests of 
Christianity. 

East of both Poland and Prussia was the country of the 
liithuanians, still practically pagan (§ 250). The Lithuanians 
and the Knights were regarded by Poland as her hereditary 
foes. 

In 1386, however, Princess Hedwig, the heiress of the Polish 
crown, consented to marry Jagello, the chief of the Lithuanians, orb- 
Cjnditio7i that he with his whole nation should become Christian. 
This momentous fact united the two countries under one king, 
now called Wladislaw II, against the Teutonic Knights. The 
war, long evaded by the Knights, finally broke out. In 1410 
the Knights were completely defeated in the battle of Tannen- 
berg (west of Kulm). This battle marks the downfall of the 
Teutonic Order. Fifty years later (1466), after another disas- 
trous war, the Grand-Master was forced to cede the land west 
of the Vistula to Poland, receiving the eastern portion as Polish 
fief. This is the first great " secularization " of ecclesiastical 
territory on record. 

The Poles have reason, from the national standpoint, to 
celebrate the victory of Tannenberg. From the standpoint 
of the Christian we must regret the robbery thus committed 
by a Catholic power. To some extent, however, it can be 
excused. The Knights had by this time lost the purpose for 



342 NATIONS IN THE SOUTH AND NORTH [§322 

which their Order had been originally established. Severiil 
attempts to find another field where they might serve the cause 
of Christianity with the sword had failed — not without their 
own fault. During the period of prosperity religious discipline 
within the Order had suffered greatly. The Prussian cities, 
justly or unjustly, complained of oppression, and made common 
cause with the Poles. The kingdom of the united Poles and 
Lithuanians, on the other hand, had to fulfill in due time a 
providential mission; namely, the defense of the West of 
Europe against the Turks (§ 502). 

322. Scandinavia had sent the Northmen into all parts of 
Europe (§ 96). After the formation of the three kingdoms of 
Denmark, Sweden, and Norway a complete Christian hierarchy 
of bishops aiid archbishops kept in touch with Rome and the 
ecclesiastical life of the continent. But since the dissolution 
of the brief empire of Knut the Great (§ 151) Scandinavia 
took no prominent part in European politics. The story of these 
northern lands is romantic. The very names of the Norse kings 
make a portrait gallery, — Eric Broad ax, Hakon the Old, 
Hakon the Good, Olaf the Thickset, Olaf the Saint. In^l397 
the three kingdoms were united under Queen Margaret of Den- 
mark by the Union of Calmar, which left to each realm its own 
laws and administration, but placed the management of all 
foreign affairs in the hands of the Danish ruler. In practice 
the two states of the northern peninsula became dependencies of 
Denmark. Both Norway and Sweden rebelled several times. 
In 1521 Gustavus Wasa succeeded, after a career of daring 
adventures, in freeing Sweden, which elected him hereditary 
king. (See § 370.) Norway remained united with Denmark 
until 1815. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

CHURCH AND PAPACY IN THE LATTER PART OF THE 

MIDDLE AGES 

In this chapter we shall treat, first, of an institution which shows 
the intimate connection between Church and State, and the high es- 
teem in which the purity of religious doctrine was held in those days. 
We shall then set forth the events which tended toward a weakening 
of the papal influence upon the further development of European 
politics. 

A. The Inquisition 

323. Origin and Nature. — Faith is a reality. Its teachings 
are not fairy stories but express facts. The Church is the God- 
appointed guardian of these revealed truths. She is not merely 
an advisory board, whose findings one may or may not follow. 
She is endowed wdth a supreme power to teach and to rule. She 
can and must demand submission to her decisions. But this 
power would be futile were it not combined w^th another power, 
namely, the right to enforce obedience and to punish those who 
refuse to abide by her decisions. The penalties, however, which 
she inflicts will vary according to the times. Circumstances 
may either recommend or forbid the employment of bodily 
chastisements besides merely spiritual weapons (§ 147). 

Public opinion was far from siding with heretics. On the 
contrary, in several places notorious heretics were burned at the 
stake by the enraged populace as early as 1100. 

Many of the heterodox systems, which made their appear- 
ance about this time, were of a very vicious character. They 
threatened not only religion but the very existence of the whole 
social and political order. The Albigenses and the later Wyclif- 

343 



344 CHURCH AND PAPACY [§323 

ites have already been mentioned (§§ 193, 288, 289). Induced 
by the frequency and gravity of such errors, and more than 
half forced by the demands of the people, the Church 
created a special tribunal, the Papal or Universal Inquisition. 
The essential features of its method were fixed by a set of laws 
passed jointly by Pope Lucius III and Emperor Barbarossa in 
1148. The minor details had been added by 1230. Such spir- 
itual courts of justice were established in localities most infected 
by erroneous teachings. They did not supersede the power and 
duty of the bishops to watch over their flocks and suppress 
heresies in their own dioceses. The jurisdiction of the Inquisi- 
tion extended only to baptized persons or such as claimed to have 
been baptized. 

These courts received the accusations for heresy, summoned 
the accused persons, called in witnesses to testify for or against 
those that were indicted, and, if they saw fit, inflicted punish- 
ment. Their first endeavor was always to convert the guilty 
by instruction. If they succeeded, spiritual penalties were 
imposed, such as pilgrimages, fasting, almsdeeds. In severer 
cases they proceeded to incarceration. Persons that had once 
recanted and then relapsed or proved absolutely incorrigible 
were handed over to " the secular arm," ^ to be dealt with accord- 
ing to the laws of the state. The state, too, considered heresy 
as a crime, because it undermined the foundations of public 
welfare. The penalty fixed by the secular laws for heresy was 
death by fire. This was never inflicted by the ecclesiastical 
judge. 

This Roman Inquisition was not extended to all the countries of 
Europe. It was active chiefly in Italy and Southern France. The 
prosecution of the Lollards in England, and, as far as it went, of the 
Hussites in Bohemia, was carried on by the episcopal authorities. In 
the trial of Hus at Constance, the Council itself was the court of justice. 

1 The spiritual and the secular power were compared with the two arms 
of the human body and spoken of as "the spiritual arm" and "the secular 
arm." See also § 204. 



§ 325] THE INQUISITION 345 

324. Tfhe Spanish Inquisition. — Spain struggled with reU- 
gious problems of its own. Moors and Jews in large numbers 
submitted to the formalities of baptism in order to gain ad- 
mission to the court and appointments to the highest secular 
and ecclesiastical offices and thus to destroy both religion and 
nationality. To cope with this very serious danger Ferdinand 
and Isabella petitioned the pope for a separate hiquisition for 
Spaiii. This Spanish Inquisition became an institution unique 
in character and organization. It consisted of several tribunals 
permanently established in certain cities with a Grand-Inquisitor 
at the head of all. The state exercised a very great influence 
upon the appointment of its members and even on the pro- 
cedure itself, though it never was a mere state institution.^ 

325. Character of the Inquisition. — It is evident that something 
like the Inquisition is a necessity for the Church, unless she is to neglect 
utterly her duty of preserving unchanged the teachings of Christ. In 
fact every " religion " must, by some board or committee or assembly, 
or by some individual officer, or by the general vigilance of the members, 
watch over the integrity of the body of doctrines to which it has decided 
to adhere. And as soon as an actual case turns up, the transaction will 
of itself assume the nature of court functions. Some spiritual or 
temporal penalty, too, must be inflicted, if the whole proceeding is not 
to be an empty farce. It is therefore only natural that in the course 
of time the Church came to organize a regular " Tribunal of Faith." 

The peculiar shape, however, which this tribunal took is due to the 
nature of the time's. " The political and social development of the 
Christian world," says a non-Catholic historian, " led with almost 
automatic precision to the establishment of the Inquisition." It was 
the product of its age. Some items of its procedure at first sight indeed 
seem surprising to the modern mind. To appreciate them correctly, 
we must gauge them not by the judicial practice of the present time, but 
by that of the Middle Ages. 

1 In our days the duties of the Inquisition are taken care of by the Roman 
"Congregation" of the Holy Office, — Congregation being the name of the 
several committees of cardinals each of which looks after a certain kind of 
business. The Holy Office depends entirely upon the voluntary obedience 
and religious conscientiousness of those whose doctrine it may have to in- 
vestigate. 



346 CHURCH AND PAPACY [§ 326 

(1) The accused never found out the names of those who either had 
reported him or had given evidence against him. But those who pre- 
scribed this method knew it would appear incongruous. They con- 
sidered it necessary to take away all risk for such as might feel bound to 
give information against some important man who could and would, 
even if condemned, wreak vengeance upon them. 

(2) The use of the rack in order to extort confessions was taken from 
the Roman law. The people of the time did not look upon it as shock- 
ing. It was applied in the secular courts without the stringent regu- 
lations with which the Inquisition limited its use. 

(3) The prisons of the Inquisition were as a rule much better and per- 
haps in no case as bad as were those dens in which criminals were detained 
by secular potentates. 

(4) As to the death penalty, see above, § 323. The death by fire 
certainly cannot compare in cruelty with the butchery which in England 
was the regular punishment for high-treason, and, later on, for the 
profession of the Catholic Faith. The number of executions has been 
enormously exaggerated, though according to our views it was big 
enough. But justice was sterner in those days, and the death penalty 
was much more readily inflicted. A prominent citizen of Constance 
has left us a chronicle of the eventful four years of the Council (§ 333) 
which was assembled in that little town. He relates with pride that the 
city magistrates succeeded in preserving perfect order, although the 
number of executions amounted to only twenty-four.^ 

326. Abuses. — While thus the Inquisition and its methods stand 
justified, it was like all human institutions liable to error and abuse in its 
actual workings. Lower officials and even judges made themselves 
the tools of unscrupulous rulers and of their still more unscrupulous 

1 The Protestants at any rate ought not to upbraid the Inquisition for the 
multitude of its victims. If the latter had been as numerous as they are 
represented to be, it would still be child's play in comparison with the victims 
of Protestant persecutions. We need only mention the wholesale massacres 
in Ireland which reduced that Cathohc country almost to a wilderness. (See 
§§ 391, 392, also § 369.) In Spain, where they were most frequent, all the 
executions during three and a half centuries amount to about four thousand 
(not 20,000 as is claimed). By this vigorous measure Spain obtained a 
period of interior peace, the preservation of its religious unity, and its existence 
as a nation. Instead of an Inquisition, France had its Huguenot Wars 
with the devastation of a considerable part of its territory; and Germany 
had its Thirty Years' War, which reduced its population to less than one 
half. 



§327] AVIGNON AND THE WESTERN SCHISM 347 

ministers. There are well-attested cases of glaring injustice, above all 
in Spain, where the influence of the government and of government 
officials was very great. Once Pope Leo X excommunicated the whole 
tribunal of Toledo (Spain) for cruelty, and ordered the witnesses to be 
tried for perjury. Occasionally the government intercepted appeals 
to Rome. The clause which assigned the entire property of the guilty 
to the public treasury repeatedly occasioned the condemnation of inno- 
cent persons. 

Notwithstanding all its shortcomings the Inquisition has done im- 
measurable good to the Church and mankind. An anti-Catholic historian 
cannot help admitting that, had the Albigensian heresy " become domi- 
nant, or even had it been allowed to exist on equal terms, its influence 
could not have failed to prove disastrous." And this is only one point. 

Taken as a whole the Inquisition does not stand for judicial arbitrariness, 
but for the reform of crying evils in the contemporaneous methods of ad- 
ministering justice. Many of the details embodied in the procedure of 
that much maligned tribunal passed into the practice of the secular 
courts and have been retained ever since. Says a French historian, 
" The word Inquisition is the scarecrow of unthinking people." 

B. The Period of Avignon and the Western Schism 

327. Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303) devoted a mind culti- 
vated by profound learning and matured experience to the noble 
aim of pacifying the Christian nations, enforcing the laws of 
the Church, and bringing about a new crusade. The empire had 
lost most of its power and influence. But the monarchy of 
France had become strengthened (§ 297). Here ruled Philip 
IV, the Fair (1285-1314), who aimed at nothing less than to 
restore the Roman Empire in its old boundaries and make the 
pope his court chaplain. He waged his private wars with the 
money which, so far, by a special papal permission, he had 
levied on the clergy for the purpose of a crusade. His demands, 
however, did not stop here but grew more and more exorbitant. 
The clergy implored the pope for protection against the extor- 
tions of royal officers. Then appeared the Bull '" Clericis 
Laicos," already mentioned in connection with England. We 
have seen what effect it bad in that country (§ 185). When 



348 CHURCH AND PAPACY [§328 

Philip continued his aggressions, Pope Boniface VIII addressed 
to him a letter in which he reproved him in a fatherly way for 
the evil he was doing. The king had the original document 
destroyed and another one written in very insulting language, 
which with an equally insulting answer he spread broadcast 
among his people. An assembly of pliable bishops and servile 
barons now put forth a number of the most absurd charges 
against the pope, calling him a heretic, a sorcerer, and an un- 
believer. They then appealed from the pope to a general council 
and to a future legitimate pope. Philip IV secretly sent one of his 
creatures, Nogaret, a low and violent character, to Anagni in 
Italy where the pope resided. Having gathered an army of 
ruffians he forced his way into the papal palace. Clad in the 
full insignia of his office, Boniface awaited him. The aged 
but dauntless pontiff was imprisoned and deprived of food 
and" drink for several days. The citizens of Anagni rescued him, 
but he died a month later. 

An outcry of indignation arose throughout the whole Christian 
world. This outrage against the Vicar of Christ showed 
clearly the criminal aspirations and violent character of a 
mighty prince. It defeated its purpose by rousing universal 
sympathy for the papacy. Unfortunately, however, Philip 
IV did not find a Gregory VII or an Innocent III to oppose him. 
Thus this sad event was in fact the significant beginning of a 
new period for the papacy.^ 

328. The Popes in Avignon. — After the one year's pontificate 
of Benedict XI, the French Archbishop of Bordeaux was chosen 
pontiff as Clement V. Since the city of Rome just then was 
again the scene of bloody party strife, Clement V preferred to 
avoid Italy altogether. He had himself crowned in Lyons, 
and in 1309 transferred his residence to Avignon,'^ a quiet little 
town on the Rhone. He was the obedient servant of Philip 
IV. All the papal utterances which had been published against 
1 Guggenberger, I, §§ 620-630. ^ jj^id., II, §§ 1-6, 15, 18. 



§329] THE GREAT WESTERN SCHISM 349 

the king were at once repealed. Determined opposition to the 
extortion of money from the clergy came to an end. The 
Order of the Knights Templar was suppressed (§ 246). The 
one thing Philip IV could never obtain from this weak pontiff 
was the condemnation of Boniface VIII as a heretic. 

In all, four popes resided at Avignon, the most prominent of whom 
was undoubtedly John XXII. He strove untiringly for the true wel- 
fare of the Church. His most cherished idea, however, the inauguration 
of a new crusade, was never realized. Under him as well as under his 
successors the missionary efforts for the conversion of Africa and Asia 
were zealously continued. One of the four, Blessed Urban V, returned 
to Rome for a short while, but finally died in Avignon. 

The Church undoubtedly suffered much through the residence 
of the popes in x\vignon. Though the city was not strictly 
French territory but belonged to the popes as a kind of out- 
lying province of the Papal States, the one-sided influence of 
French politics was at times strongly noticeable. It was, 
moreover, principally in consequence of the absence of the 
pontiffs that the Papal States at one time almost slipped from 
their control, and the loss of this source of revenue made it 
necessary to insist still more extensively upon the payment of 
papal taxes by ecclesiastics the world over. All this caused 
uneasiness and loud complaints, and seriously underinined the 
general confidence in the fairness aiid integrity of the Holy See. 
There is some reason to speak of the Avignon period as " the 
Babylonian Exile of the Papacy." 

In 1377, Gregory XI at last made up his mind to return to the 
Eternal City, and he in fact died there the year following, — 
just before he could carry out his resolution to go back to 
Avignon. '' He found the ancient monuments destroyed, most 
of the 414 churches in ruins, commerce paralyzed, and the 
number of inhabitants reduced to 30,000." 

329. The Great Western Schism. — (1) Origin. After the 
death of Gregory XI, the cardinals assembled for the con- 



350 CHURCH AND PAPACY [§330 

clave in Rome. The populace gathered in front of the build- 
ing and wildly clamored for a Roman or, at least, an Italian 
pope. The cardinals to avoid the charge of intimidation chose 
an Italian archbishop who assumed the name of Urban VI. 
To forestall all objections they met again the following day and, 
in due form, cast their votes for him a second time. 

All might have been well had Urban VI excelled as much in 
prudence as in sanctity and learning. At once, with much 
harshness, he addressed himself to the task of a much needed 
reform of the papal court. The cardinals, accustomed to a less 
restrained life in Avignon, were loath to submit to his severe 
regulations. Within a few months there was general dis- 
satisfaction. His refusal to go to Avignon occasioned an open 
rebellion upon the part of the eleven French cardinals. They 
withdrew to another city, claimed that, since in electing Urban 
VI they had not been free, he was no legitimate pontiff, and 
proceeded to " the election of another pope." The king of 
France eagerly espoused the cause of the antipope, Clement 
VII, who at once took up his residence in Avignon. French 
influence gained him additional supporters among the rulers 
of the Christian world. ^ 

There were now two men each of whom claimed to be the 
successor of Peter, each elected by cardinals. Christianity 
was divided into two " obediences." The schism was perpet- 
uated by each pope's appointing cardinals who after his death 
elected a successor. 

330. (2) Effects of the Schism. The people did not doubt 
that one only of the two claimants could be the right pope. 
But it was difficult, if not impossible, for most to decide. Had 
not the majority of the cardinals rejected Urban VI? Was 
it not for the cardinals, the august senate of the Church, to know 
and state whether Urban's election had taken place in the law- 
ful manner? Hence there were well-meaning people on both 
1 Guggenberger, II, §§ 21-26. 



§331] THE GREAT WESTERN SCHISM 351 

sides. In our own days, however, when all the facts can be 
better surveyed, the Roman pope is clearly seen to have been 
the real head of the Church. 

This deplorable condition was productive of unspeakable 
confusion. There were often two claimants to the same 
bishopric or abbey or parish, and each had sentence of ex- 
communication pronounced upon him by the pope to whom 
the other adhered. In many churches divine services were 
neglected. The religious devotion of the people grew lukewarm. 
The charges of rapacity against the papacy grew in volume 
and violence, as each of the two " popes " was obliged to in- 
crease the already heavy demands for support (§ 328). The 
rulers occasionally changed sides, accordingly, as one pontiff 
promised them greater advantages than the other. The schism 
made the popes more dependent upon the secular power than 
any previous event had done. Thus the prestige of the Holy 
See, which had been suffering during the Avignon period, fell 
still more in consequence of the schism. 

To make sure that the influence of a '' hostile " pope should 
not find its way into their realms, some rulers, in particular 
those of England, forbade the introduction of any papal docu- 
ment without their own approval. This practice they kept up 
even after the schism was ended. Certain potentates. Catholic 
and non-Catholic, have at times extended this demand even 
to the pastoral letters of the bishops. Of course no such 
right exists. Neither did Christ oblige His Apostles to submit 
their official utterances to the secular magistrates before pub- 
lishing them, nor has the ecclesiastical authority ever granted 
any such privilege. 

331. Many plans were tried to put an end to this sad state 
of affairs in the Church. When one decade after another 
elapsed without any sign of reconciliation between the two 
rival '' popes," prominent men, foremost of all the University 
of Paris, advanced the idea, unknown to former ages, that a 



352 CHURCH AND PAPACY [§332 

General Council is above the pope, A Council, it was thought, 
could and ought to take this matter in hand. Again an attempt 
made by the cardinals of both sides to bring the two claimants 
together had failed. Now six cardinals of the Avignon pope, 
Benedict XIII, joined seven cardinals of Gregory XII, the 
Roman pontiff, and these thirteen constituted themselves a 
provisional government for the Church. In this arrogated 
capacity they summoned the bishops of the world to a General 
Comicil to meet at Pisa in Italy, 1409. This Council, '' assembled 
by the grace of the Holy Ghost," declared both claimants 
deposed and elected a new one. Of course neither of the former 
two submitted to the verdict of this self-appointed tribunal. 
And so the world, as it is flippantly said, now had three popes 
instead of two. 

Inasmuch as this assembly assumed authority over the Church it 
was illegitimate and revolutionary from the start, because most cer- 
tainly it was neither summoned, nor presided over, nor sanctioned by 
the real pope. Whichsoever of the two be deemed the true successor 
of St. Peter, — and one of them surely was, — the "Council" was in 
direct opposition to him. (See Guggenberger, II, §§ 34-37.) 

332. Heresies contributed much to aggravate the deplorable 
state of Christianity. The most dangerous were the innova- 
tions of Wyclif (§ 320). The English queen at that time was a 
Bohemian princess. The intercommunication between the 
two countries, brought on by this connection, caused Wyclif's 
ideas to be spread in Bohemia. They were eagerly caught up 
by one of the professors in the university of the capital, Jerome 
of Prague, and through him they passed to John Hus. Both 
had been working seriously for a much needed reform of the 
clergy and people but like Wyclif they overshot the mark. Hus 
exaggerated Wyclif's doctrine by teaching, as some of the 
Lollards did, that secular magistrates as well as spiritual lose all 
their power by mortal sins. Many of the Bohemian nobility 
were delighted to hear that the Church must be deprived of all 



§ 333] THE END OF THE SCHISM 353 

her possessions. Christ, these heretics taught, is not present 
in the Blessed Sacrament under each separate species ; hence 
communion must be received by the faithful under both species. 

The University had forty-five theses extracted from Wy- 
clif's books. These theses were solemnly condemned through 
the influence of the German and Polish professors. Thereupon 
John Hus, already an extremely popular preacher, posed as the 
champion of Bohemian nationality. By royal mandate the non- 
Bohemian professors and students were forcibly deprived of 
the rights which they had enjoyed since the establishment of 
the institution; 20,000 students, it is said, directly left the 
university. Hus became the hero of a strong and influential 
party. By temporizing for quite a while and using ambiguous 
terms he evaded removal and punishment. In the meantime, 
his errors began to take root in the neighboring countries.^ 

333. The End of the Schism: The Council of Constance. ^ — 
In Germany Sigismund, brother of the King of Bohemia and 
son of Charles IV (§ 311), was recognized as Roman King. 
Fully realizing the greatness of his vocation, he resolved to 
spare no efforts and expense to end the pernicious schism. He 
adhered, like many other excellent men, to the Pisan pope, 
John XXIII. 

Sigismund prevailed upon John XXIII, whose " obedience," 
as a matter of fact, was the largest, to summon a Council to 
Constance, a German city on the Rhine. The eyes of Europe 
now hopefully turned to that little town beyond the Alps where 
assembled one of the most brilliant gatherings the Middle Ages 
had seen. These expectations were not disappointed. 

John XXIII soon found that grave charges against him were 
circulated among the members of the Council. He hoped to 
break up the assembly by secretly leaving the city. But King 
Sigismund had him brought back a prisoner, and by his firmness 
prevented the dissolution of the Synod. John XXIII was now 
1 Guggenberger, II, §§ 27, 28. 2 ji^id., §§ 38-46. 



354 CHURCH AND PAPACY [§ 333 

expected to abdicate. This he did, and of his own accord 
added the protestation that it was his free resolution to 
renounce the papal dignity. To prevent any untoward influence 
upon him Sigismund ordered him to be kept in confinement. 
While the Council continued its sessions the Roman King set 
out on a journey to the kings of France, England, and Spain, to 
secure them for the cause of unity. In this matter his endeavors 
were successful, though he failed to reestablish peace between 
France and England (§ 294). ^ 

Gregory XII, the Roman pope, who, as we now know, was the 
real Vicar of Christ, sent an ambassador to Constance, and 
through him first convoked the Council on his part and ordered 
his own followers, bishops as well as cardinals, to join it. He 
then declared through the same legate that for the good of the 
Church he resigned his office as pope. The third claimant, 
Benedict XIII, whose " obedience " had shrunk to his ancestral 
castle, might be safely ignored. St. Vincent Ferrer, who had 
been his confessor, left him when the " pope " refused to abdicate 
for the welfare of Christianity. 

The papal throne now being evidently vacant a new pope was 
elected by unanimous vote, and he assumed the name of Martin 
V. When the Christian world learned that there was once 
more a universally recognized pope and that the unity of Chris- 
tianity was restored, " men could scarcely speak for joy." 

With reference to the Great Western Schism a bitterly anti-CathoHc 
historian, Gregorovius, says : " Every temporal power would have 
perished therein. But so wonderful was the organization of the 
spiritual empire, and so indestructible the very idea of the papacy, that 
this widest of schisms only demonstrated its indivisibility." 

In 1431 Pope Eugene IV called another Council at Basel It 
soon became openly schismatic, but finally consisted almost 

1 One of the greatest secular events which took place during the Council 
of Constance was the solemn investiture of Frederick of Hohenzollern with 
the Electorate ("Mark") of Brandenburg (§§200,312). He was the ancestor 
of the dynasty of that name. 



§334] THE EXECUTION OF JOHN HUS 355 

entirely of priests and laymen. It went, however, to the farce 
of setting up an antipope. In 1447 Emperor Frederick III 
ordered the " Fathers " to disperse. Meanwhile the legitimate 
Council of Florence, 1437-1439, effected the temporary reunion 
with the Greek Church mentioned in § 319. 

334. The Execution of John Hus. — Before the election of 
Martin V the Council had proceeded against John Hus, the 
Bohemian heretic. Sigismund wished him to appear, but Hus 
was in no way forced to do so. On his arrival he was treated 
with the utmost forbearance. The excommunication into 
which he had fallen was temporarily lifted. He was forbidden 
only to say Mass and to preach, before the Council had passed 
upon his doctrine.. But accustomed to disregard his superiors, 
Hus said Mass privately, admitted numerous visitors, and in- 
veighed in sermons against pope and cardinals and the whole 
Church, Under the very eyes of the Council he sanctioned by 
letter the practice of receiving communion under both species 
because, as he said, it was enjoined by the Bible. Hus considered 
the Council as something like a debating society, where all are 
of equal authority, whereas a Council, as successor to the Col- 
lege of the Apostles, must demand submission. After much 
patience, and literally exhausting all means of kindness and 
persuasion, the Council declared Hus an incorrigible heretic and 
handed him over to the secular authority. According to the 
law of the time he was burned at the stake. His ashes were 
thrown into the Rhine.^ Jerome of Prague suffered the same 
fate. 

1 King Sigismund had given Hus a "safe conduct." It is often alleged 
that his execution was a violation of this guarantee of safety. But this 
was meant merely as a protection against unlawful aggressions, not against 
the just verdict of his judges. It was not a grant of impunity for whatever 
he might have committed or was going to conamit. On his way to Con- 
stance Hus himself boasted in public manifestoes that he would testify for 
his faith unto death. That the Council declared a promise given to a heretic 
unbinding is a lie pure and simple. 



356 CHURCH AND PAPACY [§335 

" With more moderation and less pride Joiin Hus, instead of suffering 
the death of fire, could have become an ornament in the august assembly. 
By his learning and eloquence he could have contributed a large share 
to the solution of the greatest problems of Europe." John Hus, a 
master of the Bohemian language, poisoned a large part of the Bohemian 
nation against that Church to which it owed its civilization and splendor. 

335. The Hussite Wars. — The execution of Hus was represented in 
Bohemia as an attack at once upon the new religion and upon Bohemian 
nationality. Long years of fanatical party strife began, which dev- 
astated the whole of Bohemia and the adjoining German provinces. 
Five crusades were preached against the Hussites, but their hordes 
proved unconquerable. At last an agreement with the Council of 
Basel allowed them to receive communion under both species provided 
they believed in the presence of Jesus Christ under each species. But 
Bohemia's agriculture and commerce was ruined, . and her intellectual 
ascendency was practically gone (§ 311).^ 

Exercises. — (1) Dates: 1254-1273 (Interregnum in Germany), 
1281, 1315, 1338-1453, 1346, 1410, 1414-1418, 1429, 1453 (Fall of 
Constantinople), 1454-1485. 

(2) List of terms for brief explanation : Black Prince, Edward III, 
Black Rent, Netherlands, Morgarten, etc., etc. 

Other exercises as suggested after § 218. 



1 On the condemnation of Hus and the Hussite Wars see Guggenberger. 
II, §§ 44, 45, 47-49. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE PERIOD OF THE RENAISSANCE 

This period concludes the era of religious unity. Its name is taken 
from one of its most remarkable features, the '' Renaissance," 
revival, of ancient classic literature. It partly overlaps the preceding 
and the following periods and even begins and closes at different times 
in the different countries. Nor does it show the same characteristics 
in all lands. Its religious aspect we must reserve for the next Part of 
this textbook. 

A. The Renaissance Proper; the Revival of Classical 

Literature 

336. Origin. — About the middle of the fourteenth century 
there arose in Italy, where the recollection of the old political and 
literary glory had never died out, a new fervor in the appre- 
ciation of the ancient classic works of the Roman authors. 
During the Middle Ages the Latin language had undergone 
some changes, and on the whole it disregarded many 6f the 
rules which had been carefully observed by the writers of the 
classic period of Roman literature. The Scholastics, moreover, 
to express the thoughts of theology and Christianized philosophy, 
had created a system of new terms which are not to be found in 
the ancient classics. They laid stress almost exclusively upon 
the correctness of thought and not so much upon the dress in 
which it was to appear. Now, however, the old Roman masters 
were studied again with enthusiasm, and more attention was 
paid to elegance of language. Hand in hand with this went a 
greater interest in the beauties of nature, not new indeed but 
greatly increased in comparison with the attitude of the scholas- 
tic mind. 

357 



358 



THE PERIOD OF THE RENAISSANCE 



336 



Francis Petrarch was the father and chief promoter of this 
new movement. His host of followers grew larger from year 
to year. Classic Latin became the everyday language of 
these enthusiasts. They employed it in public productions 
and private letters. With eagerness they searched for manu- 
scripts of the classics. 
They found them chiefly 
in the ancient monas- 
teries, where formerly 
they had been the ob- 
ject of more devoted 
care and study. 

Humanism — this is 
the name frequently 
given to the new study 
— spread fast through 
the various countries of 
Christendom and took 
hold of all classes of 
people who could afford 
to give time to such 
pursuits. The laity now 
vied with the clergy in 
literary and scientific 
endeavor. The posses- 
sion of libraries was no 
longer confined to ecclesiastics ; no palace was thought to be 
complete unless it could boast of a goodly collection of books. 
Moreover, ''In the general interest in classical learning . . . 
woman took a significant part. From the beginning of the 
revival we find the record of her literary tastes and accom- 
plishments side by side with those of the leading men of her 
time." 1 




PeTRA-RCH 



^ On the Renaissance gee Guggenberger, II, §§ 163-169. 



§337] ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 359 

337. Attitude toward Religion. — In its best representatives 
Humanism was far from being opposed to the Church. Petrarch 
himself says : " Let us admire their [the ancient writers'] 
intellectual gifts, but in such wise as to reverence the Creator 
of these gifts. Let us have compassion on the errors of these 
men while we congratulate ourselves and acknowledge that out 
of mercy, without any merit of our own, we have been favored 
above our forefathers by Him who has hidden his secrets 
from the wise and graciously manifested them to little ones. . . , 
The real wisdom of God is Christ." 

Not all the humanists harbored the same sentiments. There 
were not lacking those who would gladly throw everything 
overboard that was not in full accord with the views of the 
pagans whose writings they admired. They imitated not only 
the elegance of diction to be found in the works of these pagan 
writers, but also the immorality of their lives. Humanists of 
this stamp we call Radicals, those who remained faithful 
Christians, Conservatives. The Radicals, as well as others who 
did not go quite so far, often made the Church and all her min- 
isters the butt of their ridicule. 

Scholasticism was a pet subject of abuse for radically inclined human- 
ists. It was indeed no longer what it had been under St. Thomas 
Aquinas and his disciples. To acquire notoriety many professors — 
not all or by any means most of them — devoted much time to the dis- 
cussion of out-of-the-way topics and neglected the more necessary 
subjects. But this did not touch the doctrine itself held by the schools. 
Then, too, their language was capable of improvement as far as 
grammatical construction was concerned. But pedantic conceit and 
ignorance alone could insist upon the abandonment of the well-chosen 
and definite philosophical and theological terminology which the School- 
men had worked out. 

The Church as such never antagonized humanism. True, 
a few popes did not positively favor it, because, as was 
thought, other interests of the Church demanded attention more 
urgently. Most of the popes, however, were its most liberal 



360 THE PERIOD OF THE RENAISSANCE [| 33S 

promoters. In Rome brilliant minds were sure of finding every 
kind of encouragement. In fact without the active support 
and generous assistance of ecclesiastical dignitaries humanism 
could never have obtained so general a hold upon the nations 
of Western Christendom. 

338. Humanism in Various Countries. — In Italy humanists of both 
classes were strongly represented. Some of the Radicals, in addition 
to leading the loosest kind of life, went so far as even to plan the death 
of such persons as seemed opposed to their revolutionary projects. 
Boccaccio, one of the originators of the humanistic movement, gave 
literature some of the vilest productions. He died, however, in union 
with the Church, and in his last hours besought his friends to prevent 
as much as possible the spread and reading of his works. 

Two monks, William Snelling and William Hadley, who had made 
their studies in Italy, introduced Humanism into England. It found a 
liberal protector in Cardinal Wolsey. Thomas More, sometime the 
king's chancellor, a devout Catholic, encouraged famous humanists and 
was no mean scholar himself. Bishop Fisher of Rochester, Dean 
Colet, and others, were not only ardent humanists but thorough and 
practical churchmen. 

The first German humanists harmoniously combined great linguistic 
abilities with humble submission to the doctrines and laws of their 
religion. Some of their successors, however, indulged in violent attacks, 
chiefly by means of satire, upon scholasticism, the religious , Orders, 
the priesthood and papacy, and upon sicred ceremonies and pious 
customs. 

339. Two facts contributed greatly to the further develop- 
ment and rapid spread of the humanistic tendencies. The first 
was the influx of Greek scholars from the East. They came to 
participate in the Council of Constance and still more in that of 
Florence (1437), in which the Byzantine Church was again 
united — though only for a few years — with that of Rome 
(§ 319). The constant attacks of the Turks caused many to 
flee to the West in search of new homes. This was still more the 
case in the first years after the conquest of Constantinople 
(1453). These visitors and refugees acquainted the Italian 



§ 340] RESULT OF THE HUMANISTIC MOVEMENT 361 

humanists, and through them those of other countries, with the 
Greek language and the works of the Greek poets, orators, and 
historians, all of which had been very little known so far. The 
soil was well prepared for the new seed. The masterpieces of 
Hellas were added to the humanistic program, and enthusiasti- 
cally studied. It was a new impetus for the progress of the 
classical revival. Greek, however, never became quite so 
generally known as Latin. 

The other fact, which was of far greater importance still, was 
the invention of printing, which reduced the cost of books enor- 
mously and thus facilitated the efforts of teachers and students 
(§ 341). 

340. One great result of the humanistic movement was a 
gradual change in the curriculum of the '' Faculty of Arts " in 
the universities (§ 262). This faculty now began to aim pri- 
marily at training the young student to a proficiency in classical 
Latin and Greek and to a certain degree of familiarity with the 
literature of both these languages. For several centuries 
this proficiency in the classics remained the indispensable 
condition for the study of all the higher branches, and is still so, 
the world over, for the study of theology. 

Humanism was, however, not narrowed down to Latin and 
Greek. It included Hebrew and other idioms useful for the 
understanding of the Bible. In fact it created a new branch 
of study, philology, which strives for a deeper insight into the 
nature of languages. 

For Further Reading. — Pastor's Lives of the Popes, Vol. I, has a 
comprehensive chapter on the Renaissance as introduction, pp. 1-65 ; J. 
J. Walsh, in The Century of Columbus, pp. 427-544, discusses both the 
Latin and the vernacular literatures of the period. A very instructive 
book is Miss M. A. Cannon's The Education of Women During the 
Renaissance. See also " On the Italian Renaissance " in Bp. Shahan's 
The Middle Ages. 



362 THE PERIOD OF THE RENAISSANCE [§341 

B. Inventions, Discoveries, Arts 

341. The Invention of Printing. — All the books so far used 
in the world had been handwritten, and were, consequently, 
very expensive. A tome of moderate size was a precious posses- 
sion. A library of a few hundred volumes represented an 
almost princely fortune. This scarcity of books had ever 
proved the greatest obstacle to general education. This was 
now to be changed. About the middle of the fifteenth century 
John Gutenberg of Mayence invented the art of printing. 

The Chinese, it seems, had known the use of movable type for cen- 
turies. But it was of little advantage to them on account of the large 
number of characters in their language (see Ancient World, § 3). In 
Europe, too, the printing of pictures with short legends from entire 
plates was a regular trade at Gutenberg's time. His merit consists 
in devising an easy method for producing and multiplying metal type. 

" This invention," says a great historian, " the mightiest and most 
important of civilization next to the art of writing, gave as it were wings 
to the human mind." " Most commendable," wrote Pope Innocent 
VIII in 1487, " is the art of printing, inasmuch as good and useful 
books are thereby easily multiplied." 

The art spread rapidly. From the start it was most liberally 
patronized by ecclesiastics and monasteries.^ The ancient 
Benedictine abbey of Subiaco was the first to set up a printing 
press in Italy and was followed by many convents in other 
countries. In 1474 William Caxton introduced printing into 
England. Next to Germany, Italy possessed the greatest 
number of presses. But by the end of the century nearly 
every large city in Europe had its printing establishments. 

Naturally the printers produced the books that were in 
demand. Before the year 1500 there had appeared more than 
a hundred editions of the Latin Bible and dozens of translations 
of Holy Writ into the several vernacular languages. Alongside 

1 See "The Church and the Printing Press," in Casartelli's Sketches in 
History. 



§343] RENAISSANCE ART 363 

these were editions of the great ecclesiastical writers, '' the 
Fathers of the Church," together with the Greek and Latin 
classics, grammars and other schoolbooks, catechisms and 
prayerbooks, and collections of religious and secular songs. 
This allows us to judge of the intellectual wants of the people. 
The trade in manuscripts, necessarily very limited, now gave 
way to a brisk international book trade with its centers in the 
prominent cities of Europe. 

342. Other Important Inventions. — The Mariner's Compass seems 
to have received its present form from unknown hands about the begin- 
ning of the fourteenth century. It made possible the geographical 
discoveries which doubled the area of the accessible world (§ 344). 

The Telescope, which brings within the reach of man's eye the 
distant stars, was invented by Galileo Galilei (§ 345) after he had heard 
of a curious optical toy constructed in Holland. With the aid of his 
own telescope Galilei discovered the phases of Venus and the rings of 
Saturn. 

343. Renaissance Art. — In Italy, where there remained still 
many of the ancient edifices and monuments, — some in ruins, 
others in varying stages of preservation, — the new movement 
led to an imitation of the Roman manner of building. The 
Gothic was abandoned and another style of architecture grew 
up, called the Renaissance Style. Like the Romanesque (§ 277) 
it employed the round arch, and reintroduced many of the 
features found in the structures of the ancients. It often made 
use of the cupola. If we may deplore the passing of the graceful 
Gothic, we should remember that the mind of the people was 
no longer that of the thirteenth century. The new style easily 
adapted itself to all kinds of buildings, secular as well as eccle- 
siastical. Its best productions are characterized by a majestic 
beauty. One of its greatest creations is the present church of St. 
Peter in Rome. 

Painting had made great progress. The artists of the Ren- 
aissance are among the best the world has ever known. Per- 



364 



THE PERIOD OF THE RENAISSANCE [§343 



spective was now well observed (§ 279). An improved 
method of handling oil colors made it possible to paint on 
canvas, whereas up to 1450 paintings were mainly frescoes, 
that is, carried out upon the freshly plastered walls of ceilings 
of edifices. The art now became more independent of archi- 
tecture. 

Italian painting culminated in the eighty years from 1470-1550. 
Between these dates came the work of Leonardo da Vinci, Michael 




Sr. Peter's Church, Rome. 

Angelo, Fra Angelico, Raphael, and scores of others. Many of these 
practiced more than one art ; Michael Angelo was great as architect, 
engineer, painter, and sculptor, and he was not without fame as a poet. 
Germany had Albert Durer and Hans Holbein. The great period of 
the Flemish and Dutch art was to come later, between 1600 and 1660, 
with Rubens, Van Dyck, and Rembrandt. At the same time flourished 
the Spaniards Velasquez and Murillo. Neither France nor England 
produced much in this direction at this time. Several of the great 
artists, however, found liberal patronage in Paris and London. 



§ 344] GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES 365 

344. Geographical Discoveries. — Though in the Middle 
Ages the common people entertained the most fantastic ideas 
concerning the shape of the earth, the greater minds well knew 
that our planet is a globe. They had no correct knowledge, 
however, of the distribution of land and water and of the con- 
figuration of the continents. Their world practically did not 
reach farther than the Mediterranean and its immediate 
surroundings. But in the thirteenth century Franciscan mis- 
sionaries returning from the Far East (§ 250) reported that there 
was an ocean east of " Cathai " (China). Other travelers 
even returned by sea from Peking through the Asiatic straits 
and the Indian Ocean. It was therefore clear that this ocean, 
the existence of which had been known in some nebulous way, 
was not landlocked. Friar Bacon (§ 275) in his boldness now 
advanced the idea that possibly the Atlantic Ocean was the one 
side of a large sea which with its other side washed the shores of 
China. Parts of his writings on this subject were embodied in a 
work which in later centuries became a favorite book of Chris- 
topher Columbus. 

These speculations assumed practical shape when the Turks 
extended their power over all those lands whi(5h lay in the direct 
route to India, and thus rendered much more difficult and 
dangerous the commerce which had sprung up with that far-off 
country during the Crusades. 

In the fifteenth century the Portuguese entered upon a career 
of naval discoveries under their great Prince Henry the Navi- 
gator, and in a series of daring voyages explored the western 
coast of Africa. On one of these cruises Bartholomeo Diaz, 
after sailing far into the South, was carried away by a storm 
to the eastward and observed that in this new and unfamiliar 
position he had the coast of Africa on his left hand. He had 
rounded the southern point of the African continent, the Cape 
of Good Hope. It was not before 1498, however, that Vasco 
da Gama actually reached India. So this country of fabulous 



366 THE PERIOD OF THE RENAISSANCE [§345 

riches became directly accessible by sea. These discoveries 
gave Portugal the monopoly of the Indian trade, and enabled 
her to build up a vast empire of colonies in the countries around 
the Indian Ocean. 

Some ten years before this happened, Christopher Columbus 
approached the King of Portugal with a scheme for finding a 
more direct way to India by sailing due west into the Atlantic. 
This, he thought, must bring him to the eastern coast of India. 
His offers were rejected. But the high-minded Queen Isabella 
of Castile (§ 318) furnished him the little fleet with which, on 
the memorable 12th of October of the year 1492, he discovered the 
New World, thinking, however, that he had reached the out- 
lying islands of India. In the course of the next fifty years 
Spain sent out hundreds of daring adventurers, the '' Conquista- 
dores," who conquered for her nearly all South and Central 
America with enormous treasures of gold and silver. 

By these discoveries the Mediterranean lost much of its 
importance as a highway of trade. This was a hard blow for 
the Italian cities which so far had been the principal factors in 
the European commerce with India. 

345. Copernicus. — While the educated knew that the earth 
is a globe, they thought that it was the center of the universe, 
and that the sun and the planets were moving around it. The 
first to express serious doubts about this was Cardinal Nicholas 
Krebs, usually called, from his birthplace, Nicholas of Cusa. 
Nearly a century later he was followed by the Polish astronomer 
Copernicus, whose book setting forth the new theory appeared 
in 1543 and was dedicated to Pope Paul III. According to' 
Copernicus the sun is the center of the solar system, while the 
earth daily revolves upon its own axis, and, together with the 
other planets, moves around the sun in longer intervals. 

The moment was inopportune for such a theory. Luther had just 
declared the Bible the sole source of Faith. The new system seemed to 
he in open conflict with the way in which Holy Scripture speaks of the 



§345] COPERNICUS 367 

movements of the celestial bodies. Hence the " Reformer " and his 
friends staunchly opposed Copernicus' views, which found few adherents 
among the Protestants. The controversy lasted seventy years, before 
the Catholic Church felt obliged to take a stand in this matter. In 
Italy Galileo Galilei advanced Copernicus' system without, however, 
being able to give a single convincing proof for it. All the arguments 
which he adduced have since been abandoned. To save the tradi- 
tional interpretation of the Bible the Church authorities in 1616 pro- 
hibited books advocating the idea of Copernicus, unless so altered as 
to represent it as an hypothesis and not as a fact. Scientific discus- 
sion was never forbidden and in 1758 the prohibition was withdrawn.^ 

Exercise. — List of terms for brief explanation : Radical humanists, 
Gutenberg, Diaz, etc. 

1 See Guggenberger, II, §§ 651-654. Or: Conway, Studies in Church 
History, pp. 155 ff. Hull, Galileo and His Condemnation (pamphlet). 



BOOK II 

FROM THE DISRUPTION OF RELIGIOUS UNITY TO 

OUR OWN TIMES 

(Later Modern History) 

CHARACTER OF THE NEW TIMES. — During the Era of Re- 
ligious Unity the heads of states had never been too much inclined 
to listen to the dictates of justice. But they at least admitted the 
power of Church and Pope to speak to them authoritatively on whatever 
matters involved questions of moral right or wrong. During the last 
period of that Era, however, various causes, in particular the growth of 
absolutism and the degradation of the papacy, brought about an ever 
growing estrangement between the secular and the spiritual power. 
This estrangement will now increase. The Reformation will even tear 
away a number of European states from Christian Unity. 

Now the Church has always been the professional champion of 
justice and charity. Hence with the Church relegated to the back- 
ground of European politics, or completely ignored, the greatest moral 
force will be partly or wholly eliminated from international relations. 
In political dissensions the question of justice will be more neglected, 
and might alone will decide. True, the pope will continue to be looked 
up to as the spiritual head of the Catholic world. Occasionally his 
voice will be heard in the councils of the potentates. Some important 
public action will be prompted and guided by the dictates of morality. 
But an increasing preponderance of might over right will be the gen- 
eral character of the history of Europe during the coming centuries. 



368 



PART I. THE DISRUPTION OF RELIGIOUS 

UNITY 

CHAPTER XX 

NEED AND POSSIBILITY OF TRUE REFORM i 

346. The Evils in the Church. — It cannot be denied that 
towards the end of the fifteenth century the Church stood in need 
of a general reform. The number of those of the faithful who 
grossly violated their moral duties was alarmingly great. Divine 
worship was indeed celebrated with becoming splendor and 
regularity. But there was a tendency to overdo certain religious 
practices, such as pilgrimages, or to attach to them an efficacy 
which savored of superstition. In the private lives of vast 
numbers, there was not only ample room but a crying need 
for a thoroughgoing improvement. Considering, on the other 
hand, the numerous acts of piety and devotion, and the general 
liberality practiced towards charitable institutions, it is not at 
all likely that very many refused on their deathbed to be sin- 
cerely reconciled with God. (See § 219.) 

347. Still more ominous than the foregoing evils was a 
deplorable relaxation of morals in the higher and lower clergy, 
and a sad lack of religious discipline in many monasteries. 
Thus the very circles from which a reform should have come 
were largely unfit and unwilling to undertake it or to cooperate 
with it. 

There were in particular two abuses which helped to increase 
and perpetuate the unsound state of the .clergy. 

1 Review § 219. 
369 



370 NEED AND POSSIBILITY OF TRUE REFORM [§ 347 

(1) The plurality of benefices. The number of ecclesiastical 
positions was very great and many of them were lavishly en- 
dowed. Now it had become rather common to confer several 
such '* benefices " upon one person. One man, for instance, 
was made bishop of two dioceses, or bishop of one diocese and 
at the same time " canon '' (§ 142, note) of the cathedral of 
another ; or canon of the cathedral and parish priest of one or 
more opulent parishes. It was supposed that he would in 
person perform the duties of one of these offices and employ a 
competent priest to take his place in the others.^ 

In some cases, however, even this abuse might be tolerated, because 
there were many ecclesiastical endowments, to which hardly any actual 
duties were attached. Such benefices were frequently given to university 
professors whose regular salary was often very meager, or to poor clerics 
who wished to pursue higher studies in the universities. 

(2) The bestowal of responsible ecclesiastical positions upon 
mere boys, commonly the scions of noble families. In such 
cases a priest was intrusted with the duties of the ofiice, while 
the father of the young incumbent attended to the administra- 
tion of the property. Often youngsters of sixteen years and 
less were the possessors of several benefices, which put rich 
revenues at the disposal of their parents. 

These evils were rife in all countries and cities, Rome included; 
and their pernicious character was so Httle reaUzed that the best f amihes 
were not free from them. As a boy of twelve years, St. Charles Bor- 
romeo, the child of very pious parents,. was the abbot of a rich Bene- 
dictine monastery. When, later on, he was made Archbishop of 
Milan, he found that his predecessors had not been residing in the city 
for eighty years, and that their principal occupation had been to draw 
the revenues. His own first act was to abdicate twelve abbeys which 
had been granted to him merely on account of his family connections, 
in the course of several years. 

1 Thus Albrecht of Brandenburg, brother of the Elector of Brandenburg 
(of the Hohenzoilern family, § 3.33, note), was Archbishop of Magdeburg 
and Mayence, administrator of the Bishopric of Halberstadt, and held at the 
same time canonicates in several other places. 



§348] THE EVILS IN THE CHURCH 371 

348. Most disastrous, however, was the sad condition of the 
papacy, just at a time when zealous and energetic popes should 
have devoted all their power to a far-reaching reform. The best 
among the popes of the period had their attention engaged in 
warding off the Turkish danger from Europe ; or in frustrating 
the French projects for a conquest of all Italy. Too many of 
the cardinals, too, were simply rich grandees with ecclesiastical 
titles and revenues but with little ecclesiastical spirit. An 
evil, rampant in other places also but nowhere so pernicious 
as in the capital of Christendom, was nepotism, that is, the 
promotion to high offices of near relatives of the pope and other 
influential dignitaries. While this cannot be objected to as long 
as the persons thus promoted possess the necessary qualifications, 
it was in fact a chief cause of the worldliness which was con- 
spicuous among the highest prelates of the Church. It reached 
its climax under the unfortunate Alexander VI (1492-1503). 

Being the nephew of Pope Calixtus III (1455-1458) he had risen, in 
spite of the scandals of his life, to the cardinalate, and had obtained 
important positions in the government of the Church. When pope his 
private conduct improved somewhat, but his court was not much differ- 
ent from that of profligate secular princes. He conceived the suicidal 
plan of changing the Papal States into a secular kingdom in favor of his 
relatives. The Divine character of the papacy, however, appeared 
even in a man like Alexander VI. He took some steps to encourage 
monastic life, to spread devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and to safe- 
guard the purity of ecclesiastical doctrine. He did not forget the prop- 
agation of the Faith in foreign lands. The fine arts found in him a 
liberal patron. But no project of general and thorough reform could 
count upon the support of such a pope. 

With gross exaggerations the deplorable conditions at the 
Roman court were heralded throughout the world. They gave 
color to all kinds of charges not only against the morals of the 
highest Church officials but also against the methods of papal 
administration. Louder than ever grew the clamor against 
the various ecclesiastical taxes (§ 328) which on certain occasions 



372 NEED AND POSSIBILITY OF TRUE REFORM [§ 349 

the bishops and other prelates were obliged to send to Rome as 
contributions to the expenses of the government of the Church. 
The prelates showed unwillingness to pay them, and the secular 
rulers protested against the constant flow of money to Rome as 
too severe a drain upon their territories. 

The bad example thus given by the very men who were rightly 
expected to be the light of the world sadly reacted upon the lives 
of the laity. The respect for ecclesiastical offices, for that of the 
Sovereign Pontiff in particular, suffered greatly. This was 
noticeable in all countries, but more so in Germany, where the 
consequences of the Avignon period, and the Great Schism, 
the ideas spread by the half-revolutionary Council of Basel, 
and the effects of the Hussite agitation had left a ferment of dis- 
satisfaction. (See §§ 328-335.) 

349. Possibility of a True Reform. — Reform again became 
the watchword of serious and honest as well as of shallow minds. 
But none raised the cry more noisily than those who were the 
least willing to suffer any restraint upon their passions, and those 
who expected some material emolument from the restrictions 
to be imposed upon others. It would be wrong, however, to 
suppose that even the worst, as a rule, understood their demand 
in a revolutionary sense. 

Nor were the persons wanting, who used all their influence, great or 
modest according to their station, to work zealously for a genuine reform. 
We must point at least to a few of them. 

350. True Reformers. — The kingdom of Spain (§ 318) found a 
reformer of the first rank in Cardinal Ximenes, a member of the Fran- 
ciscan Order. Austere in his private life, a lover of humanistic as well 
as scholastic studies, and an able administrator, he was eminently 
qualified for his task. Pope and monarchs gave him their hearty 
support. He succeeded in inspiring the priests of Spain with love of 
both virtue and learning. He undertook a general visitation of the 
monasteries, and in carrying out reforms he went so far as even to 
banish dissolute monks from the kingdom. At his death, 1517, Spain 
possessed a pious, zealous, and well-educated clergy. 



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§351] TRUE REFORMERS 373 

Cardinal Ximenes had the revenues of a king and the personal wants 
of a hermit. Much of his fortune went to the establishment of the Uni- 
versity of Alcala, which by the attention given to theology, Biblical 
studies, classic and Oriental languages, and the secular branches, soon 
rivaled the best institutions in Europe. It was endowed with numerous 
scholarships to make the pursuit of academic studies possible for the 
poor. To render easier the scientific study of Holy Scriptures, the 
cardinal engaged a number of scholars to bring out a polyglot Bible, 
which gave in parallel columns the Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and Chaldaic 
texts, with dictionaries and grammars of Hebrew and Chaldaic. It 
was the first printed polyglot. The books these learned men needed 
were bought irrespective of cost. Once the cardinal paid 4000 ducats 
for six Hebrew manuscripts. 

351. About the same time that Ximenes began to reform Spain, 
Germany was the scene of the activity of another great reformer, 
Cardinal Nicholas Krebs, commonly called Nicholas of Cusa (§ 345). 
Like Ximenes " he was first and foremost a reformer of his own person. 
His life was a very mirror of all priestly virtue." " His mind embraced 
all provinces of human knowledge, but all his knowledge was from God 
and its sole object was the glory of God and the edification and amend- 
ment of men." In 1552 Pope Nicholas V sent him as legate to Germany, 
where reformation was badly needed. He assembled the German 
bishops in the metropolitan cities for the celebration of Provincial 
Councils and took vigorous measures to insure the observance of 
ecclesiastical laws. About a hundred and fifty Benedictine monasteries, 
not to mention those of other Orders, were visited and, if necessary, 
reformed. Everywhere he insisted abcwve all upon the active union with 
Rome, which had suffered greatly. (See end of § 348.) If not all the 
good seed he sowed brought forth good fruit, it was partly due to the 
shortness of his activity, as the pope soon employed him on other mis- 
sions. 

On a smaller scale labored the eloquent John Geiler, for many years 
preacher at the cathedral of Strassburg, a virtuous, charitable, and 
highly educated priest, whose many-sided and powerful influence for 
true reform extended over a great part of Southern Germany. 

A corporate movement of reform was begun by the Society of the Breth- 
ren of Common Life. In order to serve God more perfectly several 
ecclesiastics under the leadership of Gerard Groot, Canon of Deventer, 
Holland, resolved to lead a community life and to follow most of the 
practices of Religious, without, however, binding themselves by vows. 
Their peculiar activity was preaching, teaching, and the writing and 



374 NEED AND POSSIBILITY OF TRUE REFORM [§ 352 

disseminating of good literature. They also made it their special 
object to befriend poor students. A part of them, however, soon 
formed a real rehgious Order, the " Congregation of Windesheim," 
which worked in the same spirit and served as a support and backing 
of the Brethren of the Common Life. Both communities exerted a far- 
reaching influence, chiefly through the students of their many higher 
schools, and their reformatory efforts among the secular and regular 
clergy were fruitful of astonishing results. They were the teachers of 
Cardinal Nicholas Cusa and of Nicholas Copernicus (§ 345). Thomas 
a Kempis, author of the famous booklet, " The Imitation of Christ," 
was a member of the Congregation of Windesheim. 

352. The foregoing remarks about true reformers are not 
meant to do full justice to this consoling subject. They serve, 
however, in some degree to counteract a wrong impression 
which the exposition of the evils in the Church is apt to pro- 
duce. The Church was not to be despaired of. Her old 
vitality was by no means gone. These very times brought 
forth more than eighty Saints in Italy alone. This same period 
saw the appearance of many excellent books on Christian morals 
and on the reception of the sacraments. And the disciples of 
Gerard Groot and the writers set to work by Cardinal Ximenes 
were only a few of the many authors who issued useful works. 
There was shown, moreover, a lavish liberality in the establish- 
ment of new hospitals and schools and towards charitable 
institutions in general. It was not the fault of the immortal 
Church that the blameworthy life of many of her members 
and ministers became the pretext for a revolution which tore 
away large countries from ecclesiastical unity. 



CHAPTER XXI 
THE REFORMATION PERIOD ON THE CONTINENT 

A. The Protestant Reformation in Germany 

353. The Indulgence. — About the end of the fifteenth 
century the venerable Basilica of St. Peter, which had been 
built by Constantine the Great (§ 40), was threatened with 
destruction. The pope had therefore resolved to take it down, 
and erect a new structure, magnificently planned in accordance 
with Renaissance ideals (§ 343). To facilitate the collection of 
funds, Pope Leo X, in 1514, promised a plenary indulgence to 
those who would, according to their means, contribute to so 
praiseworthy an undertaking — besides of course fulfilling the 
conditions usual in the case of a plenary indulgence, namely, the 
reception of the sacraments. 

An indulgence was then what it is now : a remission, outside of the 
sacrament of penance, of temporal punishment due to sins which are 
already forgiven. The Church attaches indulgences to certain good 
works, which she wishes to encourage, as prayers, pilgrimages, acts 
of mercy. Sometimes the good work is almsgiving, or contribution 
towards the building of a church, or toward other charitable or pious 
enterprises. 

354. Archbishop Albrecht of Mayence (§ 347, note) was com- 
missioned by Pope Leo X to publish the indulgence in a large 
part of Germany and send the money thus gathered to Rome. 
He in turn appointed subcommissioners. The latter, commonly 
learned, pious, and eloquent preachers, went from place to place, 
sought by appropriate sermons to rouse the people to genuine 
contrition and a good confession, and collected the alms that 

were offered. 

375 



376 REFORMATION PERIOD ON THE CONTINENT [§ 355 

It is evident that this procedure, though correct in itself, was open 
to serious abuses. The commissioners might lay more stress on Hberal 
donations than on the necessity of contrition and confession. On 
handing in his alms a person received an indulgence certificate, by which 
ample faculties were granted to any confessor whom the holder of the cer- 
tificate might choose. This feature in particular was apt to leave on 
superficial minds the impression of a mere business transaction, the 
more so as the commissioner was allowed to raise or lower the amount 
according to his estimation of the applicant's wealth.^ 

355. Archbishop Albrecht of Mayence Appointed John Tetzel, 

a Dominican friar, as his chief subcommissioner. This much 
maligned priest, personally of blameless character, undoubtedly 
went too far in his endeavors to procure financial success. 
He insisted indeed on the necessity of contrition and confession 
for all those who wished to obtain the remission of temporal 
punishment for themselves ; but his teaching concerning the 
indulgence for the dead was not free from serious errors. To 
secure this benefit for a soul which has, of course, departed 
this life in the state of Grace, nothing, according to him, is re- 
quired but the alms. He who wishes to apply it to the soul of 
a deceased person need not be in the state of Grace or have 
any contrition for his sins. This doctrine, though at his time 
actually taught by some irresponsible preachers, has never 
been supported by ecclesiastical authority. Tetzel's own 
brethren in religion openly reproached him for his ill-advised 
tactics, which soon became the talk of the whole country. ^ 

1 The earliest case on record of a pope granting an indulgence for the 
purpose of raising money occurred in 1394, when the Great Schism had 
obstructed many of the ordinary sources of papal revenue. Charges of 
abuses became loud at once. In fact, whenever the same means was resorted 
to in the course of the next century, the same complaints, founded or un- 
founded, were sure to follow. Great men, as Cardinal Ximenes, openly 
expressed the opinion that such indulgences ought to be granted less fre- 
quently and then only with better precautions against abuses. In the case of 
the indulgence proclaimed by Leo X, the matter was aggravated by the reports 
of the scandalous way in which the proceeds of the jubilee indulgence of 
1500 had been disposed of under Alexander VI. 

2 It is without the slightest reason that Tetzel's opponents accuse him of 



§ 356] MARTIN LUTHER 377 

They furnished another element of discontent to those who 
sincerely or hypocritically lamented the evils of the Church. 

356. Martin Luther. — At this time there lived in Witten- 
berg, in the Electorate of Saxony, as a professor in the university 
of that city, an Augustinian friar, already famous for his vigorous 
popular eloquence and his great ability in teaching. Martin 
Luther was born in 1483. After entering the Order, he was 
for many years looked upon as an edifying religious. But the 
question whether his sins were really forgiven began to worry 
and torment him. Being of a headstrong and self-willed dis- 
position, he refused to listen to the advice of his confessors 
and superiors, and endeavored to settle his troubles by his own 
reasoning and studies. At the same time he became more and 
more remiss in the observance of his Rules and the practices of 
piety. 

At last he imagined he had made the discovery that the doctrine 
of the Church concerning the remission of sins was altogether 
wrong. He thereby implied that Christ, contrary to His solemn 
promise, had allowed the Church to fall into a most disastrous 
error. The new system, which gradually developed in Luther's 
mind, confused the nature of sin with concupiscence, which is a 
consequence of original sin, and while it makes man inclined 
to sin is no sin in itself. By the sin of Adam, he thought, human 
nature was corrupted beyond recovery ; man's acts can only 
be bad ; but Jesus Christ covers the soul with His infinite merits, 
v/hich, as it were, conceal all trespasses from the eye of the just 
God ; if sinful man expresses his firm " belief " in this merciful 
dispensation, God will not punish him, though the sin is not 
taken away, but merely covered; the sinner therefore ever 
remains a sinner ; the sins committed by St. Paul before his 

an immoral life or ascribe to him such silly statements as that indulgences 
remit sins without contrition and confession, or the duty of restitution, or 
that they are even pardons for future sins. The saying, however, that the 
soul jumps out of purgatory as soon as the money tinkles in the box, may 
not be literally his, but is in keeping with his erroneous doctrine. 



378 REFORMATION PERIOD ON THE CONTINENT [§ 357 

conversion were never truly forgiven. It is evident that such a 
justification is no justification at all, and it will always remain a 
riddle how Luther could maintain that he had found such a mon- 
strous doctrine in the Bible. 

He had already begun to propound these ideas in the pulpit 
as well as in the lecture room. It was rumored abroad that a 
strange kind of theology was being taught at Wittenberg. 
So far, however, Luther did not think of separating himself 
from the organization of the Church. 

357. The Beginning of Hostilities. — When Tetzel on his 
preaching and collecting tour arrived in the neighborhood of 
Wittenberg and people flocked to him, Luther at once took up 
the subject of indulgences. In his lectures, sermons, and in the 
confessional he inveighed against Tetzel. On the Eve of All 
Saints' Day, that is, on Oct. 31, 1517, he posted a set of 95 
theses on the door of the principal church. These propositions 
he offered to defend in public disputation against all comers. 

The greater number of these theses treated of indulgences, but 
attacked rather the doctrine itself than the abuses connected with it. 
Nearly half of the theses impugned other points of ecclesiastical teach- 
ing, particularly the power of the Church relative to the remission of 
sins. Though the theses were written in Latin, the language was less 
scientific than calculated to catch the popular mind by appealing to 
prejudices and passions. 

Such challenges were by no means uncommon in the uni- 
versities (§ 267). But Luther's theses created a sensation far 
beyond the circles of the university and the confines of the city. 
Within a short time they were the talk of the whole country. 
Luther saw his advantage and followed up his success with other 
writings, both popular and scientific. Opposition arose, and 
soon a brisk literary warfare was going on. Many serious- 
minded men sided with the bold monk, in whom as yet they 
hailed a courageous champion of their own just complaints. 
The radical humanists, of whom there was a great number in 



§358] THE FINAL BREAK WITH THE CHURCH 379 

Germany at that time, took up his cause enthusiastically. His 
religious superiors and the bishop of the diocese left him at 
liberty. The prince in whose territory he lived, the Elector of 
Saxony, was rather pleased to notice that the university which 
he himself had founded attracted so much attention. 

Luther became more and more audacious. In the struggle 
with his adversaries, the dogmas of the Church were thrown 
overboard one by one, and his own system grew more definite 
and radical.^ 

358. The Final Break with the Church. — When Pope Leo X 
sent a legate to Germany to investigate the causes of the dis- 
turbance, Luther first appealed to the pope himself, later from the 
ill-informed pope to a better-informed one, — a step which was 
revolution pure and simple, — then from any pope to a Gen- 
eral Council, next from all Councils to the Bible, and lastly from 
the Bible to himself as the supreme judge of the right inter- 
pretation of the Bible. Several of the books of Holy Writ 
were pointed out to him as being in the most glaring con- 
trast to his self-made teachings. He boldly declared they did 
not belong to the Bible at all. He still wrote most submissive 
letters to the Roman Pontiff, while in his works he reviled him 
as the Antichrist and worse than the Turk. Since 1519 he ap- 
pears resolved to break completely with the Church. 

By this time he had rejected the supernatural efficacy of the sacra- 
ments ; had declared void the religious vows, and the duty of celibacy 
in priests; had deprived matrimony of its supernatural character as 
sacrament and of its indissolubility; had denied the dignity and 
jurisdiction of pope and bishops; and had invited the emperor and 
other temporal rulers to seize upon the rich ecclesiastical possessions, 
including the Papal States. 

Several attempts to win back the talented man by kindness 
had failed. At last the pope solemnly condemned forty-one 
of Luther's theses and expressly threatened excommunication 

1 On Luther see the pamphlet, The Facts about Luther, by P. O'Hare. 



380 REFORMATION PERIOD ON THE CONTINENT [§ 359 

against him if he would not recant within sixty days. Counting 
upon the support of his humanist friends and of all the dissatis- 
fied elements in clergy and laity, on the protection of his 
prince, the Elector of Saxony, and on the assistance of a wide- 
spread party of disgruntled knights, Luther defied the papal 
verdict. He secured a copy of the bull and in view of a large 
crowd of students and people threw it into a bonfire before the 
gates of Wittenberg, Dec. 10, 1520. Thus the break with the 
Church and the whole Christian past was finally sealed. 

359. Luther before the Diet of Worms. — In 1519 Emperor Maxi- 
milian had died. One of his last acts had been an earnest and rather 
gloomy letter to the Roman authorities to bring to their notice the 
innovations that were taking place in the empire. He was succeeded 
by his grandson Charles, king of the vast S'panish dominions in both 
hemispheres.^ 

The young Emperor Charles V saw himself confronted with the 
religious complications in Germany. The numerous and powerful 
adherents of the apostate monk demanded that the emperor take the 
matter in hand. Since the highest ecclesiastical authority had mean- 
while given a final verdict, Charles V consistently refused to allow a 



1 The following table, will help to clear up the family connections which 
led to this accumulation of power and its subsequent division. 



FERDINAND.-----_-----ISABELLA 



of Aragon 



of Castile 
(See § 318) 



MAXIMILIAN I------MARY 

of Austria, 
emperor 1493-1519 



of Burgundy 
(See § 316). 



JOANr-------r 

heiress of all Spain 



rr^rrrPHILIP 

heir of Austrian and 
Burgundian possessions ; 
died before his father 



CHARLES V 

King of Spain, 
emperor 1519-1566 

Charles V's son PHILIP II 

became King of Spain ; the 
first of the separate Spanish 
line of the Hapsburgs. 

The symbol :---- means "married." 
are printed in heavy capitals. 



FERDINAND L--- 

emperor 1556-1564, 
became founder of 
the Austrian power ; 
the first of the sepa- 
rate Austrian line of 
the Hapsburgs. 
(See § 367) 



-----ANNA 
sister of the 
childless King 
of Bohemia 
and Hungary. 



The names of Hapsburg princes 



§360] REBELLION OF THE LOWER NOBILITY 381 

formal judicial proceeding. But he consented that Luther be given 
another chance to declare his submission, and promised to intercede 
for him with the Supreme Pontiff. 

With an imperial safe-conduct Luther came to the Diet at Worms, 
1521, the first which Charles held. But the monk's obstinacy destroyed 
every hope of reconciliation. The emperor pronounced against him the 
" Edict of Worms," which was to take effect after sixty days. It 
declared Luther an outlaw, ordered his books to be burned, and forbade 
all Germans to profess his doctrines or give him any assistance or en- 
couragement. The Elector of Saxony and other princes, however, 
refused to allow the Edict to be carried out in their territories and were 
too powerful to be forced into obedience.^ 

360. The Rebellion of the Lower Nobility. — When Luther 
defied the pope, he counted on a revolutionary movement which 
was spreading in the empire. It proceeded from two strata 
of the population, the lower nobility and the peasants. 

The ascendency of the foot soldier (§§ 208, 315) had deprived the 
lower nobility of their natural occupation. The English knights had 
found another field of usefulness, but the German knights had not. 
This numerous class consisted of men who owned each a castle with some 
land which, in many cases, did not yield enough to allow them the 
expensive style of living which they thought was the privilege of their 
station. Moreover, the old national laws were gradually supplanted 
by the Justinian Code, which greatly favored the power of territorial 
rulers (§ 63). Though exemplary in many ways it was after all a 
foreign law, grown out of different circumstances. It did away with 

1 Luther possessed a perfect control of his native tongue and knew how to 
talk to the common people. This, together with an incredible capacity for 
work, is one of the many causes of his success. Pamphlets and leaflets 
were his favorite weapons, and they always appeared at the right moment. 
In 1521 he began his German translation of the Bible, which is recognized 
to be more genuinely German than any of the eighteen that preceded him. 
(He did not make the language, as is often claimed ; but he devoted much 
time and study to mastering it more thoroughly.) He did not scruple to 
manipulate the sacred text so as to suit his own new doctrines. One of his 
Catholic opponents stated that he had counted not less than 1400 false or 
inaccurate renderings. Luther's Bible had an enormous sale and inciden- 
tally contributed much to fix and generalize the language. It was soon, 
however, successfully rivaled by good Catholic translations. 



382 REFORMATION PERIOD' ON THE CONTINENT [§361 

the old popular courts and introduced new ones presided over by trained 
jurists, who managed to draw out the proceedings in order to get larger 
fees. For poorer people, including the lower nobility, it was very 
difficult to obtain redress. There was, therefore, a general state of 
discontent, which drove many knights into the ranks of the highway 
robbers. 

One Francis von Sickingen had made himself the champion of 
the " oppressed " knights. By the promise of unlimited plunder 
he gathered large bands around him, harassed the cities and 
princes, extorted large sums of money, and tormented and killed 
the helpless inhabitants of villages and monasteries. For a 
change he served as a French general. Luther's declamations 
and writings against pope and bishops made Sickingen a soldier 
of the " Gospel." Ulric von Hutten, a profligate of the same 
stamp, but also a writer of elegant Latin verse, had helped to 
gain him for the cause of Luther. 

After the Diet of Worms, Sickingen conceived the plan of 
building up a kingdom for the new religion. He even thought 
of dislodging the emperor and driving the pope out of Italy. 
He secretly gathered thousands of knights and marched, in 
1522, against the Archbishop of Treves, an uncompromising 
opponent of Luther's " Gospel." But the attack upon the city 
failed. Sickingen retired, devastating the country fearfully. 
He soon fell mortally wounded while defending his own castle.^ 
— This was the first war waged in the name of the new religion. 

361. The Rebellion of the Peasants. — During the preceding 
century the German peasants, whether serfs or not, had, on the 
whole, been prosperous. But this prosperity rapidly declined. 

The rise of commerce had caused the formation of merchants' com- 
panies, or trusts, which artificially raised the price of all commodities. 
The peasa nts themselves had become involved in debts by their extrava- 
gance. But historians mention above all the introduction of the 

1 Guggenberger, II, §§ 197, 198. Janssen, History of the German People, 
III, pp. 276-308. 



§361] THE REBELLION OF THE PEASANTS 383 

Roman law as one of the chief causes of the deterioration of their 
condition. Then came the " Gospel " of Luther. " His pamphlets 
were full of appeals to the worst human passions. The burning of 
convents, the plundering and slaying of priests and bishops, was declared 
to be not only pleasing to God but necessary under pain of damnation. 
He heaped calumnies and insults on the princes who closed their coun- 
tries to his ' Gospel,' and hurled invectives even against the emperor 
himself." The peasants drew their own conclusions from this gospel 
of hate. They formulated their demands, some of which, however, 
were fully justified, in what they called the Peasants' Articles. Large 
sections of these they had taken from Luther's writings. Their banner 
was the " Bundschuh," a coarse peasant's clog, raised upon a pole. 

Thus began the frightful revolution called the Peasants' 
War, which involved about one fifth of Germany. It took 
armies of ten and twenty thousand soldiers to put it down. 
There had been other peasants' risings in Germany before this, 
but never had such acts of fiendish cruelty been committed. 
It was the effect of the preaching of Luther and the Lutherans. 
The soldiers on their part retaliated with equal ferocity. When 
Luther perceived that the cause of the peasants was lost, he 
savagely turned around and hounded on the princes to inflict 
the most terrible punishments.^ 

As a result of this war, more than a thousand castles and 
monasteries lay in ashes on a territory smaller than the State 
of Ohio. Contemporary writers estimate the number of the 
slain at 150,000. The country swarmed with beggared widows 
and orphans. As the original records were destroyed, the peas- 
ants had to consent to new terms or were refused definite 
contracts.^ In the seventeenth century the Thirty Years' 
War completed the degradation of most of the German peas- 
antry. It was long before they rose again to the prosperity 
they had possessed in the fifteenth century. 

^ See Husslein and Reville, What Luther Taught, pp. 48-55 ; Guggenberger, 
II, §§ 199-203; Janssen, History of the German People, IV, pp. 121-369. 

* While the horrible carnage was going on, Martin Luther celebrated his 
wedding with Catharine Bora, an escaped nun. 



384 REFORMATION PERIOD ON THE CONTINENT [§ 362 

362. Lutheranism and the Temporal Rulers. — By his 
attitude during and after the Peasants' War, Luther had 
forfeited the adherence of the lower classes. The new doctrine 
had put an end to the episcopal jurisdiction in the territories 
of certain princes. Hence Luther now turned to these temporal 
rulers and made them heads of their respective " churches." 
There were now as many "popes" as Lutheran princes. In 
these principalities the " Church " became the servant of the 
state, a kind of spiritual police department.^ 

In former centuries the people could appeal from a tyrannical 
Henry IV of Germany, or a Henry II of England, or a Philip II 
of France to a higher judge, the Roman pontiff. The very 
presence of an independent priesthood was a check on princely 
despotism. The new religion rendered the subject helpless. 
There was already a strong tendency in all rulers, great and 
small, to make themselves absolute. Luther and the move- 
ment he started enormously furthered these endeavors. It is 
now that princely absolutism really begins. Catholic rulers 
also succumbed to this contagious disease. 

B. Emperor Charles V (1519-1556) 

363. Charles V and the Religious Question. — Charles Y 
was sincerely attached to the Church and resolved to preserve 
Germany in the Catholic religion. But his difficulties were 
great. He had many troubles in his kingdom of Spain. His 

1 In a Diet held at Spires (Speyer), 1529, the Catholic party, still in the 
majority, had an imperial edict passed which forbade the Lutheran princes 
to molest their Catholic subjects. Against this fair enactment the Lutherans 
"protested," and henceforth they, as well as all those sects that arose later, 
were designated as Protestants. This merely negative term strikingly 
expresses the fact that the new religion has not produced any positive ele- 
ment for the betterment of mankind. The following year, at Augsburg, the 
Protestant princes presented to the emperor a lengthy document, which set 
forth their belief. It is called the Augsburg Confession and is recognized by 
the Lutherans as their "Creed." It was, however, opposed by some of 
their own number from the beginning. 



§364] EMPEROR CHARLES V 385 

almost continuous wars kept him away very frequently from the 
empire and made him dependent on tRc good will of his sub- 
jects. Hence his ill-advised policy of reconciliation, which led 
him to expect too much from concessions to the innovators. 
Had he shown more firmness, no doubt the losses of the Church 
would have been smaller. Toward the end of his reign he even 
meddled in doctrinal matters. He had set his hope upon a 
General Council to be celebrated on German soil. But the 
means he used to bring it about and his attempts at interfering 
with its workings cannot but be severely condemned. On the 
other hand he certainly was instrumental in saving at least 
one half of Germany for the true faith. 

His brother Ferdinand, who commonly represented the 
absent emperor, though personally a devout Catholic, shared 
his too conciliatory views. 

364. The Foreign Wars of Charles V. — Francis I, King of 
France, carried on four wars against the emperor. In the second, 
which the French king began contrary to his sworn promise, 
even Pope Clement VH was on his side, because it seemed the 
emperor might become too powerful in Italy. The pope, 
however, soon wished to withdraw, and in fact an armistice 
had already been arranged for. But the imperial army, con- 
sisting of German Lutherans, Spaniards, and Italians, demanded 
the arrears of their pay. When this was not forthcoming, they 
marched against Rome. Their most popular leader fell while 
scaling the walls ; and thus Rome, the most cultured city of 
the world, was for a whole month at the mercy of some 40,000 
troopers who had nobody to control them. Deeds of unspeak- 
able cruelty and destruction were perpetrated. The peace 
which concluded this war is called the Ladies' Peace, because 
its conditions were fixed by the mother of Francis and the aunt 
of Charles. 

In 1530 Charles V was crowned by Pope Clement VII in 
Bologna, — the last coronation of an emperor of the Holy 



386 REFORMATION PERIOD ON THE CONTINENT [§ 365 

Roman Empire. All his successors were merely " Emperors 
Elect." (See § 312.) 

365. Meanwhile the Turks under their Sultan Soleyman had 
overrun all Hungary, and with an army of 200,000 men laid 
siege to Vienna, the capital of the Austrian dominions, 1529. 
The garrison of not more than 12,000, under their aged com- 
mander. Count Salm, held out heroically, until the approach of 
the winter forced the Turks to retreat. Two years later 
an army of Germans and Hungarians, partly equipped at the 
expense of Pope Clement VII, saved the Northwest of Hungary 
from Turkish domination. 

In 1535 Charles carried out a successful expedition against 
the Mohammedans in Tunis and freed 20,000 Christian captives. 

This victory brought on another war between Francis I and 
the emperor. Francis even entered into an alliance with Soley- 
man. Combined French and Turkish ships preyed upon the 
commerce of Christians in the Mediterranean. In the French 
wars, the emperor held his own quite well against all aggressions. 

366. The Rebellion of the Protestant Princes. — A number 
of Lutheran princes of the empire formed an alliance for the 
purpose of promoting Protestantism and preventing the 
Catholics from regaining the ecclesiastical possessions which the 
Protestants had seized by various methods of fraud and force. 
When the emperor ordered them to dissolve the revolutionary 
league, they refused, but were signally defeated. Maurice, 
Duke of Saxony, though a Lutheran, had sided with the emperor, 
and as a reward was made Elector. To regain his lost prestige 
among the Protestants he dastardly turned against the un- 
suspecting emperor, and began a series of horrible depredations 
against Catholic territories. The emperor, completely un- 
prepared, barely escaped captivity. 

Broken and discouraged Charles V concluded with the Prot- 
estants the " Religious Peace of Augsburg,^' 1555. This agree- 
ment established the principle, Cujus Regio, Illius Religio 



§368] SWITZERLAND 387 

(whose is the country, his is the religion), that is, the prince 
determines what religion the subjects are to profess ; and if 
they refuse to do so they must emigrate. Of course this principle 
might be applied and was actually resorted to by Catholic 
princes as well. It was another strengthening of autocracy. 

To secure the aid of the French king for his purpose, Maurice the 
rebel had entered into an alliance with him and played the three German 
cities of Metz, Toul, and Verdun into his hands. This was the first 
beginning of the conquest of Alsace and Lorraine by France (§ 412, 
2). 

367. Charles V's Successors. — A year after the Peace of Augsburg 
Charles V abdicated his dignities both as emperor and as King of Spain. 
His brother Ferdinand, who had already been chosen King of the 
Romans (§ 312), followed him as Emperor (Elect) and possessor of the 
Austrian dominions. His son Philip II became King of Spain and its 
dependencies which included the Netherlands, Milan, and Naples. 
Charles withdrew to a Spanish monastery, where he devoted his time 
to works of piety and study. He died in 1558. 

Supported by the claims of his wife, Ferdinand had been elected 
hereditary king by the Hungarians after the Bohemians had chosen 
him to the same position in their own country. He thus became the 
founder of the power of Austria. 

By this division of the Hapsburg possessions, there were established 
two branches of the family, the Austrian line beginning with Ferdinand, 
and the Spanish line beginning with Philip. (See § 359, note.) 

The religious troubles had enormously increased the weakness of 
Germany. Hence the French kings turned their aggressiveness from 
Italy to their northeastern neighbor. Here neither Alps nor Pyrenees 
stood in the way, while domestic dissensions and the lack of a strong 
central power furnished many opportunities for conquest. For the 
next hundred years we find the French kings nearly always in alliance 
with the Protestant German princes against the Catholic emperor.^ 

C. Further Extension of Protestantism 

368. Ulric Zwingli, a priest in Switzerland, started a similar 
" reformation " in his own country, in 1519, two years after 

1 Guggenberger, II, §§ 215-235. See also "The Dutch Pope," in Casar- 
telli's Sketches in History. 



388 REFORMATION PERIOD ON THE CONTINENT [§ 369 

Luther. He, too, rejected the authority of pope and bishops, the 
celibacy of the priests, the religious vows, the necessity of good 
works. The usual plundering of monasteries and confiscation 
of Church property followed and was one of the motives that 
induced several cantons to accept the innovation. Others, 
however, the three original '' Forest Cantons " (§ 314) among 
them, remained faithful to the Catholic Church. Like their 
German brethren the Swiss reformers were soon at war with 
their Catholic fellow citizens. Zwingli himself fell in one of 
the civil strifes (1531). There was a deadly hatred between 
Zwingli and Luther, because the former took the liberty of 
explaining Holy Scripture in a different way. Zwinglianism 
was subsequently merged into Calvinism. 

369. John Calvin, a Frenchman, entered upon his public 
career as heretic in 1534. The most characteristic doctrine of 
his system is that every man has been predestined beforehand 
by God to either Heaven or hell, so that it is not in his power to 
change his final fate. Calvin gave to his '' church " a strictly 
democratic mode of government. There are no bishops ; the 
highest officials are the priests or rather ministers elected by 
the congregation. Hence the name of Presbyterianism from 
Presbyter, priest. 

Calvinism spread through parts of France, Germany, Holland, and 
to Scotland. From the latter country it came to England under the 
name of Puritanism, so called from its tendency to " purify " the divine 
service of every trace of the old Roman rites. But its real home is the 
city of Geneva, now belonging to Switzerland. Here Calvin himself 
ruled with Draconic severity. The churches were stripped of altars, 
pictures, statues, and every kind of ornamentation. The most rigorous 
laws regulated the minutest details in the life of the people. The whole 
city rose at four o'clock. Recreations were severely restricted. A 
dressmaker was put in jail for three days for making the dress of a 
bride too beautiful. Within four years there were more than 800 cases 
of imprisonment, 76 decrees of exile, and 58 executions among the 15,000 
inhabitants. A Spanish physician, Servetus, who denied the Blessed 
Trinity, happened to come to Geneva. He was arrested, found guilty 



§370] FRANCE, THE NORTH 389 

of heresy, and burned at the stake ^ — with the approval of the authorities 
of the Swiss and German Protestants. Calvin kept himself in power 
by the assistance of the numerous foreigners who went to Geneva to 
study theology under him, and who all became citizens directly upon 
their arrival. (See Guggenberger, II, 211-213.) 

Calvinisin is the most aggressive and intolerant of the new 
" religions." None tends more relentlessly toward complete 
civic control and political influence. 

370. Protestantism in Other Countries of the Continent. The 
Land of the Teuimiic Order (§ 321). — Albrecht of Brandenburg- 
Ansbach, a relative of the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg 
(§333, note), had become Grand-Master of the Order. Like his 
predecessors he tried to rid himself of Polish sovereignty. But 
left without assistance by the disunited empire, he at last 
forsook his religious vows. With the consent of the Polish 
king he changed East-Prussia into a secular vassal state of 
Poland, and forcibly introduced Lutheranism. Those of the 
Knights who remained faithful to their religion withdrew to their 
possessions in central Germany, where the Order existed until 
1803. 

The family of " Duke " Albrecht died out with his own chil- 
dren. But he had made an agreement with the Hohenzollern 
Electors of Brandenburg that in this eventuality the dukedom 
of (East-) Prussia should be united with the Electorate of 
Brandenburg. The annexation, which made (East-) Prussia a 
province of Brandenburg, took place in 1618. 

Livonia, the northeastern part of the Order's dominions, 
preserved the Catholic religion some thirty years longer. Then 

1 Serve tus was an investigator of rare abihty. He had discovered the 
circulation of the blood. It was a misfortune for him and for the science 
of medicine, that he did not refrain from dabbling in theology. His theory 
was embodied in the theological work which cost him his life, and of which 
only two copies survived him. The important discovery was made again 
fifty years later by the English physician Harvey. See Walsh, The Cen- 
tury of Columbua, pp. 369, 370. 



390 REFORMATION PERIOD ON THE CONTINENT [§ 370 

its " Army-Master " took th6 same step as Albrecht of Prussia, 
and the land became a Polish fief. Later on the Swedes and 
finally the Russians occupied Livonia (§ 490). 

In Poland the spread of Protestantism was pretty well 
checked, though its few adherents obtained bare toleration. 
Transylvania, a vassal state of Hungary, became entirely 
Lutheran. In Hungary the Calvinists grew so numerous that 
they could successfully demand freedom of public worship. 
But the country as such remained Catholic. 

In Sweden Gustavus Wasa, justly admired as the hero of 
Swedish liberty (§ 322), turned traitor to his better self and by 
all manner of deceit and violence forced Lutheranism upon the 
country. In Denmark and Norway, the new religion was 
introduced by the same means. Everywhere the change of 
religion brought with it a considerable diminution of popular 
liberty. The Republic of Iceland (§ 102) lost both liberty and 
religion and became a Danish province.^ 

1 Guggenberger, II, §§ 209, 210. 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE BRITISH ISLES DURING THE REFORMATION PERIOD 

A. England 
I. HENRY VIII AND EDWARD VI (1509-1547-1553) 

371. Henry VIII's Revolt from the Church. — In Germany 
the Protestant Reformation was chiefly the work of the princes. 
But great religious abuses and still more serious economic evils 
had prepared the way for it. This is much less the case in 
England. The setting up of a separate English *' Church " 
is the achievement of one man, King Henry VIII, the second of 
the Tudor kings.^ 

Henry VIII was married to Catherine of Aragon, daughter of 
Ferdinand and Isabella (§ 318) and aunt of Charles V. She 
had, however, been the wife of Henry's deceased brother Arthur. 
There is an ecclesiastical impediment against the marriage with 

1 The following table of Tudor rulers (§ 300) shows also the claim of the 
first ruler of the next royal family. 

(1) Henry VII (1485-1509) (See § 305) 



Margaret 
(m. James IV of Scotland) 

James V of Scotland 
(1513-1542) 

I 
Mary Queen of Scots 

I 

(6) James I 

of England 

(1603-1625), 

the first 

Stuart king 



(2) Henry VIII (1509-1547) 



(4) Mary 
(1553-1558) 
(daughter of 
Catherine 
of Aragon) 



Mary 
(grandmother of 
Lady Jane Grey) 



(5) Elizabeth 
(1558-1603) 
(daughter of 

Anne Boleyn) 



(3) Edward VI 

(1547-1553) 

(son of 

Jane Seymour) 



391 



392 THE BRITISH ISLES [§372 

a brother's widow. But in Henry's case this impediment had 
been removed by papal dispensation. The union was blessed 
with five children, all of whom died in their infancy except the 
Princess Mary. 

When the Lutheran revolution broke out in Germany, Henry VIII 
opposed it with might and main, and had the English laws against 
heretics carried out in full severity. He even wrote a Latin book 
against Luther in defense of the Seven Sacraments. For this work 
Pope Leo X gave him the title of " Defensor Fidei " (Defender of the 
Faith) , which, strange to say, the present kings of England still retain. 

372. Apostasy. — But the king became the slave of a low 
passion for another woman, Anne Boleyn. Soon he feigned 
scruples of conscience concerning his marriage with Catherine, 
and began to think of a separation from her. He knew that 
there is a law in the Church which withdraws all marriage 
questions of rulers from the Jurisdiction of the bishops and 
reserves them exclusively to the Sovereign Pontiff, So he tried 
all the means in his power to obtain from the pope a declaration 
of the nullity of his union with Catherine. But in vain. All 
the pope ever granted was the appointment of a commission to 
investigate the case in England. Cardinal Wolsey, the king's 
favorite, was made a member of it. But this effort, too, came to 
naught. In great rage Henry VIII dismissed Cardinal Wolsey 
from his service and was on the point of having him executed for 
treason, when, happily, the humiliated prelate died of grief. 
All hope of obtaining satisfaction from Rome had to be given up. 

The king now resolved to throw off allegiance to the pope. He 
required the English bishops to recognize him as the head of the 
Church in England, which they did, in the face of his threats, 
though not without a weak protest. At this juncture Warham, 
the Archbishop of Canterbury, died, and Henry intruded into 
the primatial see one of his creatures, Thomas Cranmer, who 
had imbibed Lutheran heresies in Germany and was secretly mar- 
ried to a niece of one of the German reformers. Without the 



§373] HENRY VIII 393 

slightest hesitation Cranmer granted the desired divorce. Henry 
VIII at once banished Catherine and Princess Mary from his 
court, married Anne Boleyn, and had her crowned with unusual 
solemnity. In 1534 a servile parliament passed the " Act of 
Supremacy," which declared that ''the king our sovereign lord, 
his heirs and successors, kings of this realm, shall be taken and 
accepted and reputed the only supreme head on earth of the Church 
of England, called Anglicana Ecclesia." 

Was there in England, asks a Protestant writer, any general dislike 
of the jurisdiction of Rome in Church matters? and his answer is: 
" I fail to see any evidence of such a feeling in the copious correspondence 
of the twenty years preceding. . . . Moreover, if any such general 
desire for the abolition of his (the pope's) authority existed, I cannot, 
for my part, understand why there never was any attempt to throw off 
papal jurisdiction before the days of Henry VIII." (Gairdner, Lollardy 
and the Reformation in England, Vol. I, p. 4.) 

373. It should be noted that Henry VUI did not make England 
Lutheran or Calvinistic. — Catholic dogma remained practically 
intact — with the exception of the dogma of the Roman Primacy. 
Mass continued to be said ; the seven sacraments were administered ; 
clerical celibacy was not abohshed ; the services in the churches were 
held with the same ceremonies. A visit of Protestant divines from 
Germany, arranged for by Cranmer for the purpose of injecting some 
more advanced ideas into the English Church, was a complete failure. 
The archbishop was obliged to repress his Lutheran propensities until 
the death of this king.^ 

1 The antics gone through with the Bible are amusing. Before his apos- 
tasy the king prohibited the use of an EngKsh translation of the New Testa- 
ment by Tyndall, which was full of glaring errors. In 1537, that is, three 
years after his revolt, an English edition of Holy Writ containing this same 
New Testament was officially introduced and ordered to be placed publicly 
in all the parish churches and made accessible to everybody. In 1543 a 
royal decree withdrew this Bible and prescribed a new one in its stead. But 
henceforward the Word of God was not to be read in public by any laymen ; 
all persons of nobility, however, might peruse it privately and read it to 
their families. Of the lower classes the householders only were allowed to 
peruse it privately, while their wives, children, and employees must neither 
read nor hear it under pain of a month's imprisonment for each offense. 
"The King's Book," a volume of popular instruction, now replaced the 
Bible for the bulk of the nation. 



394 



THE BRITISH ISLES 



[§374 



374. Persecutions. — The new " pope " of England brooked 
no resistance. Most of the bishops and prominent laymen took 
the prescribed Oath of Supremacy. But the number of those 
who had the courage of their conviction was great. Several 
hundred friars and monks were either executed or banished or 

died in foul dungeons. 
The most illustrious 
victims of Henry's 
wrath were John 
Fisher, Bishop of 
Rochester, and TAoma^ 
More, Chancellor of 
England, both re- 
nowned as accom- 
plished scholars far 
beyond the bound- 
aries of their country. 
While imprisoned in 
the Tower Bishop 
Fisher was made car- 
dinal by the pope, 
whereupon the king 
cynically remarked, 
*' The pope may send 
him the Red Hat, but 
I shall take care that 
there will be no head 
to put it on." 

375. The Dissolution of the Monasteries. — England was 
covered with hundreds of abbeys and other monastic institutions, 
many of which had grown very rich. The king and his greedy 
partisans among the nobility coveted all these possessions. But 
a pretext had to be found. So a commission was sent out to 
examine into the spiritual condition of the monasteries. It 




Sir Thomas More. — After a portrait painted 
by Holbein, copied by Rubens. (§ 343.) 



§376] HENRY VIII 3^5 

reported that in the smaller houses, which had less than two 
hundred pounds revenue a year, monastic discipline lay pros- 
trate, while '' in the honorable and solemn monasteries of this 
realm . . - religion is right well kept and observed." The 
reports were woefully garbled or, as some maintain, simply 
forged. Parliament, though, on the whole, servile to the 
royal will, at first recoiled from giving its consent to so unheard- 
of a scheme of robbery. But it was frightened by threats, and 
after some hesitation passed the bill, which granted to the ki^g 
all the estates and movable property of some 270 houses. 

This robbery roused the people in the northern counties. They 
banded together and marched upon London. They were armed but 
committed no excesses. Wherever they came they restored the 
monasteries to the former owners. They did not mean to rebel, but 
hoped by this armed demonstration, which they called the "Pilgrimage 
of Grace," to change the mind of the king. By promises and double 
dealing Henry VIII prevailed on them to return to their homes. When 
they saw thjit no promises were kept, revolts broke out in some places. 
Now the king sent an armed force with orders to cause '' a dreadful 
execution to be done upon a good number of inhabitants of every town, 
village and hamlet, ... as well by the hanging of them up in the 
trees as by quartering them. . . . You shall also without pity or 
circumstance . . . cause all the monks and canons that be in any wise 
faulty to be tied up without further delay or ceremony." 

376. The Pilgrimage of Grace furnished a welcome plea for 
the suppression of the large monasteries. This work of de- 
struction began without any previous decree of parliament. 
Upon the most flimsy charges, by threats and manufactured 
evidence, the heads of the houses were either carried to prison 
and executed, or forced to surrender their possessions " volun- 
tarily." Later on it was thought desirable to secure an act of 
parliament, which in due formality transferred to the king all 
the movable and immovable property of these and all similar 
institutions, including the sacred vessels and vestments of 
their churches. Several hundred hospitals went into the bar- 



3^6 THE BRITISH ISLES [§377 

gain without any provision being made for the numerous indi- 
gent patients. The schools connected with the convents disap- 
peared. Finally came the destruction of the shrines of Saints in 
all the churches. The tombs of Sts. Augustine and Thomas a 
Becket and even that of Alfred the Great were not spared. 
(§§ 112, 115, 169.) Whole libraries consisting of priceless manu- 
scripts were disposed of to grocers and soapsellers. The estates 
were sold, or donated to noblemen and other royal favorites and 
parasites. 

" The noble buildings (of the abbeys), raised in the view of lasting 
for countless ages, must not be suffered to stand. In most instances 
gunpowder was resorted to, and thus, in a few hours, the most mag- 
nificent structures, which it had required ages to bring to perfection, were 
made heaps of ruins. The whole country was thus disfigured; it had 
the appearance of a land recently invaded by the most brutal bar- 
barians." (Extracts from Wm. Cobbett (Prot.), History of the Protestant 
Reformation, §§ 181, 182.) 

f 
377. Economic Consequences of the Suppression of the Mon- 
asteries. — It should be stated right here that Henry VIH's 
successor, Edward VI, completed the work of destruction by 
sweeping away all charitable institutions which had survived 
his father, and at the same time confiscating the property of 
some 30,000 gilds (§ 258) which in great part served for the 
encouragement of thrift and for mutual assistance. 

The rural population was already suffering under the effects 
of a change in agricultural methods. The rich landlords saw 
fit to betake themselves in larger measure to sheep-raising, 
because they could sell the wool at high prices in Flanders. 
Hence fruit-fields were changed into meadows, and with the 
fields disappeared the cultivators. Whole villages were razed 
to the ground ; and large numbers of peasants lost their homes 
and occupations. 

But it was the destruction of the monastic institutions that 
struck the heaviest blow at the happiness of a considerable part 



§377] HENRY VIII 397 

of the rural population. The monks had been easy landlords. 
They had acted at the same time as the protectors and sup- 
porters of the indigent. The new owners were vastly different 
men, bound to the tenants by no ties of conscience or tradition. 
Rackrents replaced the fair terms, and drove many tenants away 
from holdings where their forefathers had lived contentedly 
for centuries. In many cases tenants were no longer wanted. 
It is estimated that by the suppression of the monasteries about 
a hundred thousand persons lost their means of livelihood, not 
counting the monks and nuns themselves, who were now poorer 
than their former dependents. 

" A multitude of able-bodied men were consequently without employ- 
ment or property ; and the law treated them without discrimination 
as rogues and vagabonds. Indeed the laws against vagrancy were 
sharpened in this iron age, and a second or third lapse into vagrancy 
was punished from 1536 onward with a felon's death." ^ (Charles S. 
Devas, Political Economy, p. 537.) 

With the monasteries ended also their splendid patronage of 
poor students. The destruction of the convent schools and the 
general decline of prosperity among the lower classes made it 
almost impossible for the less wealthy parents to give their sons 
the education preparatory to university studies. The number of 
university students dwindled down, though it is a surprise for 
us to hear even from a Protestant bishop, Latimer, that in 1550 
the students in these abodes of learning numbered less by 
20,000 than in 1530. 

" Viewed merely from its social aspect,' \ssiys Cardinal Gasquet, 

" the English Reformation is the rising of the rich against the 

poor." (In Preface to Cobbett's History of the Reformation.) 

^ It was at any rate a progress, if under later reigns the numerous poor 
were no longer treated as criminals. Under Elizabeth (§§ 385 ff.) the so- 
called poor-^aws began to be passed, which obliged the municipalities to 
support the impotent poor and find work for the able-bodied. These laws, 
however, well-nigh made the poor the slaves of the civil community and 
placed them in a separate and despised class as "paupers." England had 
BO poor-laws as long as the monasteries existed. 



398 THE BRITISH ISLES f§ 378 

378. The Wives and Children of Henry VIII. — After his " divorce " 
from Catherine of Aragon, Henry hved fourteen yearsj during which 
time he married five "wives." Anne Boleyn gave him a daughter, 
Ehzabeth, later queen, but soon fell under suspicion and was be- 
headed ; Cranmer now declared that she had never been Henry's wife. 
The day after her execution the king married her maid of honor, Jane 
Seymour, who died the following year in giving birth to a son, the later 
King Edward. The next wife, Anne of Cleves, was divorced and parted 
without a quarrel. The same year Catherine Howard became the 
king's consort, but died two years later on the scaffold. Catherine 
Parr, the sixth " queen," had the good luck to survive her husband. 

A law of succession secured the crown first to Edward, and should he 
die without children, then to Mary, and finally to Elizabeth. 

379. Edward VI (1547-1553) came to the throne as a child 
of ten years. The men who constituted the Regency favored a 
more thoroughgoing '"reformation." Archbishop Cranmer saw 
his chance and knew how to utilize it. The property of the 
gilds (§ 377) and of other charitable institutions was swept into 
the royal treasury or the coffers of the ruling party. The 
Anglican " creed " was radically changed. The sacrifice of 
the Mass, the belief in the real presence of Christ in the Blessed 
Sacrament, purgatory, the veneration of the Saints, ceremonies, 
vows, the celibacy of priests, were rejected. As a consequence, 
altars, sacred vestments and vessels, the statues and pictures 
of the churches, were now destroyed or confiscated. A com- 
mission under the presidency of Cranmer compiled the Book 
of Common Prayer in English. It takes the place of our missals 
and similar books. It received its finishing touches under 
Elizabeth. 

II. MARY THE CATHOLIC 

380. Mary the Catholic (1553-1558) ^ considered it the task 
of her life to reestablish in England the religion of her fore- 
fathers. England was still overwhelmingly Catholic. A great 

1 In spite of the rule of succession made by Plenry VIII with the consent 
of parliament a strong Protestant party tried to raise the young Jane Grey, 



§381] MARY THE CATHOLIC 399 

obstacle to a Catholic restoration was found in the fact that the 
immense ecclesiastical property could not be demanded back 
from the present possessors without causing a widespread 
confusion, because many parcels of this property had changed 
hands repeatedly. Not to disturb the state of the country, 
the pope, making use of his power as supreme administrator of 
all possessions of the Church, dispensed all the owners from the 
duty of restitution. England was solemnly reunited with the 
Catholic world. 

Mary began to encourage again the studies in the national 
universities, and her noble example evoked the liberality of 
several rich men, who established " colleges " in these in- 
stitutions. To her is due the first commercial treaty between 
England and Russia, and the suppression of the privileges of 
the Hansa Towns (§ 261). Both these measures gave a great 
stimulus to English commerce. She was, besides, the first Eng- 
lish ruler that emphasized the duty of judges to admit evidence 
against the crown in lawsuits, and to decide against a royal 
suitor if justice required it. Almost immediately upon her 
accession she restored the currency, which had been greatly 
depreciated under her father, to its original value, and remitted 
an extra tax which the late parliament had granted to the 
crown. 

381. The Spanish Marriage. — When it became known that 
the queen had resolved to marry Philip, the son of Emperor 
Charles V, who was to succeed his father as King of Spain, 
there arose a strong and noisy opposition. This opposition was 
to a certain extent national ; but to a great extent, too, it was 
the work of French emissaries who wished to create trouble for 
the queen, and of the English Protestants who feared for their 



a distant relative of the royal family, to- the throne. But by a bold appeal 
to all loyal Englishmen Mary foiled the attempt. When poor Jane Grey 
was used a second time for the pretext of a revolt, she had to die with the 
real instigators. (See § 371, note.) 



400 THE BRITISH ISLES [§382 

threatened religion. Mary, however, obtained the consent of 
parliament. The marriage contract provided that the govern- 
ment of England should remain vested in the queen alone; 
that no offices be given to foreigners ; and that the issue of this 
union should inherit the Netherlands. No settlement for the 
marriage of any member of the English Royal family had ever 
been so exclusively favorable to England.^ 

382. The Persecution of Heretics. — Although the bulk of the 
nation was Catholic, Mary thought it her duty to hasten the 
religious unification of England by proceeding with greater vigor 
against the heretics. This is decried by many as a blot upon her 
otherwise kind and lovable character. But she simply did 
what her advisers suggested, what the spirit of the times 
approved, and what had been practiced with the utmost severity 
by her predecessors in the opposite direction. In fact she in- 
troduced nothing new. A committee of English bishops tried 
the cases of heresy and surrendered obstinate transgressors to 
the " secular arm " to be dealt with according to English secular 
laws. But before this last step was taken, all the means of 
persuasion and kindness had been exhausted. 

About 280 persons were executed in this way during Mary's reign. 
A Protestant writer, however, calls attention to the fact that in those 
times heresy and rebellion were almost convertible terms. Many of 
the victims had been implicated several times in risings or seditious 
attempts against the queen. Another Protestant historian says : 
" Mary and her advisers honestly believed themselves to be applying 
the only remedy for the removal of a mortal disease from the body 
politic. What they did was on an unprecedented scale in England, 
because heresy existed on an unprecedented scale." (Innes, England 
under the Tudor s. Quoted from Cath. Enc.) Moreover, in the one 
winter of 1569 nearly three times as many Catholics were executed 
under Elizabeth, as Protestants during the whole reign of Mary — 
not to speak of the butcheries ordered by Henry VIII after the Pil- 
grimage of Grace (§ 376). 

1 On this matrimonial contract see Cobbett, History of the Protestant 
Reformation, §§ 239-244. 



§384] MARY THE CATHOLIC 401 

383. The Five Years of Mary's Reign Were Full of Sorrows. 
— Failure of crops caused great hardships and exerted a 
paralyzing influence upon industry and commerce. There was 
a terrible pestilence in her last year. Though there were causes 
enough for a war with France/ it was Mary's union with Philip 
that brought on a clash with that country. In this war, the 
city of Calais, the last English possession on the continent, fell 
into the hands of the French. The loss of Calais was a very hard 
blow for the queen. *' The word Calais," she said, '' will be 
found written in my heart." It furnished her enemies with a 
welcome weapon to undermine her popularity. The protracted 
absence of her husband aggravated her long-standing illness. 
One of her severest trials was a misunderstanding with Pope 
Paul IV, who favored the French cause in the war. 

384. Ker Character. — Queen Mary the Catholic was a model 
Christian, sincerely pious, very charitable, ready to make any 
sacrifice for her religion and her country. She certainly took no 
step without the conviction that it was either demanded or at 
least permitted by the law of God, and that it would be bene- 
ficial to her country. Her marriage with Philip is often deemed 
a political mistake. But a just verdict is difficult. It is 
highly probable that, had her reign lasted several decades, she 
would have succeeded in giving to her beloved country peace 
and prosperity together with the blessings of the true religion.^ 

1 Secret agitation was ever increasing during her short reign. Defama- 
tory libels against king and queen, printed on the continent, were found in 
the streets, in the palace, and in both houses of parliament ; and reports 
were circulated that Mary, hopeless of issue, had determined to settle the 
crown on her husband after her decease. It was chiefly the French minister 
to England that was responsible for this incrimination. It led to a des- 
perate attempt — the second — to place Elizabeth on the throne. (Lin- 
gard. Vol. V, pp. 496 ff.) 

2 As a result of systematic slandering carried on during the reign of her 
successors, Mary has been stigmatized as the "Bloody Mary." The in- 
justice of this epithet is now generally recognized. One of the worst 
instruments of slander was the lying Book of Martyrs by John Foxe, which 



402 THE BRITISH ISLES [§385 

III. ELIZABETH 

385. Elizabeth (1558-1603) and Religion. — Elizabeth was 
crowned with the usual Catholic ceremonies and took the solemn 
oath to maintain the Catholic religion. But she immediately 
began undoing the work of Queen Mary. She had the Act of 
Supremacy repassed by parliament and reintroduced the Book of 
Common Prayer in a somewhat revised edition.^ As a standard 
of Anglican orthodoxy The Thirty- Nine Articles were drawn up. 
Assistance, on certain days, at the Anglican services was 
enjoined under pain of exorbitant fines. Another law extended 
the obligation of taking the Oath of Supremacy much wider 
than it had been under Edward VI, and made the refusal punish- 
able as an act of treason. 

386. Persecution. — Had not the reign of Mary the Catholic 
given the Church a respite to recover new strength, it is not 
improbable that the fierce persecution which now broke upon the 
adherents of the old religion would have wiped out Catholicism 
altogether. But the bishops appointed under Mary refused 
to submit to Elizabeth. They were removed from their sees 
and most of them died in prison. The worst consequence of 
the persecution was the dearth of priests. The campaign of 
slander against everything Catholic discredited the ancient 
institutions in the eyes of the rising generation. The heavy 
fines reduced numerous prominent families to beggary and 
resulted in lowering the social standing of the Catholic body. 

pretended to give authentic reports of the non-Catholics executed under 
Mary. See Miss J. M. Stone's Studies from Court and Cloister, pp. 272-276. 
^ With the Book of Common Prayer was introduced again the "Ordinal" 
of Edward VI, which prescribes the Anglican mode of ordaining priests and 
consecrating bishops. In it the Catholic ceremonies have been so curtailed 
and altered as to exclude most carefully the idea of real priesthood. Con- 
sequently the Anglican bishops, all of whom were consecrated according to 
this book, cannot claim the true power of Christian bishops and successors 
of the Apostles ; and, furthermore, the Anglican clergymen are no priests. 
For references on Anglican Ordinations see footnote on next page. On the 
rise of Puritanism see § 420. 



§387] ELIZABETH 403 

An unrelenting war of half a century was thus waged against the 
Church. Yet even at the end of this frightful period one third 
of the population still clung to the Faith which St. Augustine 
had brought to England (§ 112). 

Priests and all those who had given them hospitality were subject to 
the indescribably cruel punishment inflicted for treason. Among those 
whose execution attracted the widest attention was Father Edmund 
Campion, before his conversion to the Catholic Faith one of the most 
renowned university men of England. The queen herself had in person 
made an attempt to win him back to the Anglican creed. The Catholics 
of means suffered not only by imprisonment and fines but also by end- 
less domiciliary visits. On such occasions a sheriff at the head of an 
eager crowd broke into the house, generally by night. Every bed and 
box and cupboard was searched, the stored provisions scattered about, 
the wainscoting and floors torn up, and holes made in the walls, to dis- 
cover priests or their hiding places or at least some sign of their presence. 
Unspeakable personal insults commonly accompanied this work of 
destruction. The trial was always for treason. But everybody knew 
that denial of the Catholic Faith would immediately evoke a liberating 
sentence. 

The most distinguished lay person that suffered death under 
Elizabeth was Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. Her execution 
struck a fatal blow at the prospects of the old religion in both 
countries (§ 394).^ 

387. Elizabeth's Character. — Elizabeth was one of the most 
talented women of her time and had received a brilliant educa- 
tion. She spoke several languages and read with ease Latin and 
Greek. Like all great rulers she knew how to surround herself 
with able and devoted men and to profit by their advice. She 
was at the same time a shrewd observer of circumstances and a 

1 Special Reports : Cardinal Allen and the foundation of English Catholic 
Colleges on the continent. See Conway, Studies in Church History. On Pope 
Leo XIII's decision concerning Anglican ordinations, see "Anglican Or- 
dinations" in Cath. Encyclopedia, or Cath. Dictionary; or the booklet, 
Anglican Ordinations; Theology of Rome and of Canterbury in a Nutshell, 
by H. C. Semple, S.J. 



404 THE BRITISH ISLES [§388 

keen judge of men. But her private life was dissolute and her 
court a hotbed of frivolity. She was essentially selfish and 
sought the glory of England for her own personal glory. The 
feelings of true friendship or chaste womanly attachment she 
either never possessed or lost very early in her reign. Her 
speech was always sprinkled with oaths, and when opposed she 
was liable to utter the most terrible imprecations. To her a 
lie was simply an intellectual means of avoiding a difficulty. 
Vanity was perhaps her most prominent weakness. She yearned 
for praise, and even in her old age accepted as genuine the most 
absurd flatteries. Disgusting is the hypocrisy with which she 
flaunted her " virginity " in her speeches and proclamations, 
and expected to be extolled above all rulers of all ages. 

388. Material Prosperity. — Elizabeth's administration was 
marked by great economy. The enormous fines wrung from 
the Catholics, the income drawn from licensed freebooting 
(§ 403), the monopolies which she sold, and the presents which 
she extorted from the nobility supplied her for the greater 
part of her reign with revenue and enabled her to forego more 
general forms of taxation. From motives of economy she 
avoided wars and preferred to obtain her ends by means of an 
unscrupulous diplomacy. The short victorious war with Spain 
(§ 404) only heightened the appreciation of the long peace. 
Peculiar circumstances caused the landowners to return from the 
practice of sheep raising (§ 377) to real agriculture ; a change 
which gave work to an increased number of rural laborers. 
The Revolution of the Netherlands, besides, drove the commerce 
of the flourishing towns of Flanders over to England, which at 
this time began to be the mart of Europe. The immigration of 
Flemish weavers in England started an important branch of 
industry. The channels of commerce opened under Mary the 
Catholic (§ 380) were utilized and extended, and the beginning 
was made of the English trade with India. Thus Elizabeth's 
reign was, for the Protestant portion of the population, at least, 



§ 389] ELIZABETH 405 

an age of growing prosperity, " the spacious days of great 
Elizabeth." 

During these spacious days the movement of the Renaissance, 
which had been stifled in England since the beginning of the 
religious innovation, seemed to awaken. The latter part of 
Elizabeth's reign saw a brilliant period of discovery and liter- 
ature. Harvey discovered afresh the way in which the blood 
circulates (§379 note), and so helped to lay the foundation for 
true study of medicine. Francis Bacon called the world's 
attention to the necessity for scientific observation and experi- 
ment. Edmund Spenser created a new form of English poetry 
in his Faerie Queene. And the splendor of the Elizabethan age 
found a climax in English drama, with Shakspere as the most 
resplendent star in a glorious galaxy that counted "such other 
shining names as Marlowe and Ben Jonson. 

389. Elizabeth's Popularity. — The queen industriously 
catered to the love of the lower classes which made up the bulk 
of the population. She kept her courtiers and the nobility 
in slavish subjection. The ceremonial in her palaces would have 
met with the approval of any Oriental despot. Only with in- 
numerable genuflections were her servants allowed to approach 
her adorable person. But on the many pompous progresses 
through the country, which gratified her vanity and caught the 
public fancy, she gave unlimited access to the common people, 
listened to their complaints and chatted with them familiarly. 
The people did not see the vices, the profligacy, and the intrigues 
of her court, nor the duplicity of her diplomatic transactions 
• with other powers. All they noticed was the blessings of half a 
century of peace and other happy events associated with the 
time of her reign. These are the sources of the popularity which 
she enjoyed. It grieved her exceedingly when, in the very last 
years of her government, the usual enthusiastic acclamations 
which had always greeted her at her appearance in public 
were no longer heard. 



406 THE BRITISH ISLES ^ [§390 



B. Ireland in the Reformation Period 

390. Henry VIH resolved to make the nominal rule of Eng- 
land (§ 306) more real. He assumed the more pretentious title 
of " King of Ireland " instead of Lord of Ireland. For the first 
time Irish chiefs participated in the Irish parliament, in which, 
so far, only the noblemen of the Pale had been represented. 
This parliament passed an Act of Supremacy and declared the 
dissolution of 400 Irish abbeys. The property of the latter '' was 
confiscated to the king and his courtiers, or used as a corruption 
fund to bribe greedy chiefs into submission." But many of the 
chiefs who were present may not have fully understood what 
the whole matter meant, because they did not know a word of 
English. The measure had little effect upon the religious 
life of the country. The people remained in communion 
with their clergy and these were faithful to Rome. Under 
Mary the Catholic, of course, the religious issue disappeared, 
to come up the more fiercely under Elizabeth. From now on 
the Irishman strove to save not only his nationality, but above 
all the religion which had ever been Ireland's glory. 

391. Insurrections and Their Suppression. — The mighty 
family of the Fitzgeralds had revolted against England's rule 
under Henry VIII. By trusting English promises six of the 
prominent members of the family allowed themselves to be 
seized, and ended their lives upon the scaffold. During the 
reign of Elizabeth three more insurrections followed under 
Shane O'Neill, Hugh O'Neill, Hugh Roe O'Donnell, James 
Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, and others. In spite of the most 
admirable bravery and some brilliant successes these insurrec- 
tions ended disastrously, largely through lack of unity among 
the Irish leaders. A feiv years after Elizabeth's death the principal 
chiefs, despairing of Ireland's future, fled to the continent, to 
return should prospects become more favorable. 



§ 392] IRELAND 407 

392. The Plantations. — Under Henry VIII a new form of 
occupation had been inaugurated : the plantations. When an 
Irish chief had rebelled, all the land belonging to his clan — 
though commonly not more than one tenth of the clan had taken 
any part in the rising — was declared forfeit to the crown and 
allotted to English " undertakers " who engaged to " plant " 
it with English or Scottish settlers. But the Irish holders did 
not give up their homes good-naturedly. Hence a warfare of 
destruction ensued. The invaders with the help of English 
soldiery sought not merely to drive the owners of the soil away 
but to exterminate them with their whole kin, and they employed 
all the means which the most unbridled brutality could suggest. 
History does not record deeds more atrocious than those per- 
petrated on thousands of unoffending Irish people during the 
next century and a half. The barbarities provoked risings, the 
risings were punished with plantations, and these led to new and 
more horrible cruelties. This savagery became the general 
character of all the English wars against the Irish. It goes 
without saying that under such provocation the natives often 
retaliated by similar outrages. 

The plantation system was resorted to by all the Tudors, 
chiefly by Elizabeth. But it assumed the largest proportions 
in the plantations under Oliver Cromwell ( § 450) . The flight of 
the earls (§ 391) furnished the pretext for the confiscation of 
half a million acres of the best land in Ulster. A great part of 
it went to Scotch Presbyterians.^ 

The question may rightly be asked, how it was possible that the whole 
race did not perish in such a flood of devastation. But very frequently 
the "undertakers" failed to obtain a sufficient number of non-Irish 
settlers. Most of those who actually took up land were not inclined 
to work with their own hands but wanted to " get rich quick " by the 
labor of others. Hence the Irish were retained as tenants. Moreover 
the English officials were by no means impervious to bribes. As a 

1 See Guggenberger, II, § 521, or histories of Ireland, for more details. 



408 THE BRITISH ISLES [§393 

matter of fact the Irish everjrwhere, except, perhaps, in some parts of 
Ulster, by far outnumbered the Enghsh and Scots. 

The plantations account for the presence in Ireland of numerous 
Protestants, though the native population, the descendants of the 
original Celts as well as of the Anglo-Irish, remained Catholic to the 
core. The plantations, too, established the abominable system of 
Absentee Landlordism, as the new " owners " of vast tracts of Irish lands 
commonly did not live in Ireland. The money which their agents 
wrung from their starving Irish tenants was spent in England or on 
the continent. 



C. The Reformation in Scotland 

393. Introduction of the New Faith. — The kings of Scotland 
were of the royal family of the Stuarts. James IV had married 
Margaret, daughter of Henry Tudor (§ 300 and note to § 371) 
of England. Under their son, James V (1513-1542), Lutheran 
doctrines began to spread in the country. They found favor 
with a part of the nobility, which, as in other lands, was hanker- 
ing after the possessions of the Church. To weaken Scotland 
and prepare her for annexation Henry VIII gave every kind of 
encouragement to the heretical party. 

" The Scottish reformation unquestionably took rise in highly treason- 
able intercourse with a foreign power that played on Scottish greed. 
The principles of the English reformation flowed into the neighboring 
state on a stream of gold." (Power, S.J., History of Religions, " Presby- 
terianism," pp. 10, 11.) 

For a long time both king and people, ably advised by the 
clergy under Cardinal Beaton, offered firm resistance. But 
after the death of James V and during the minority of his 
daughter Mary, who still lived in France, the influx of heretical 
ideas went on unchecked. The arch-promoter of the " reform " 
was John Knox, who had studied in Geneva under Calvin. 
Hence it is that Calvinism (Presbyterianism) became the most 
generally accepted form of Protestantism in Scotland. In 1560 



§394] MARY STUART 409 

a rebellious parliament declared the old religion abolished; 
and the confiscation of ecclesiastical property, tha destruction 
of monasteries and of the ornaments of the churches, were com- 
menced. But for years Mass continued to be said in the burnt 
and blackened ruins of the monasteries. Lack of priests caused 
the Catholic religion to die out in the realm as by starvation. 
394. Mary Stuart, the heiress of the kingdom of Scotland, 
had been educated in France, where she married King Francis 
II. A year after the early death of her husband, the girl-widow 
of nineteen years returned to Scotland (1561) to mount the 
throne of her fathers. Her position was very precarious. Those 
whom she found in actual power were fierce Protestants, and 
the persecution of the Catholics, inaugurated the year before, 
was in full swing. With difficulty the queen maintained her 
right to have Catholic services undisturbed in her own chapel. 
John Knox thundered away against everything Catholic, and 
powerful nobles instigated revolution after revolution against 
their lawful sovereign. From a marriage with Lord Darnley, 
an ambitious nobleman, she had a child, the later King James. 
The mysterious murder of her husband helped to complicate 
matters for her. Her position grew desperate, and, in 1568, 
she resorted to the fatal step of fleeing into England and im- 
ploring the protection of Queen Elizabeth. 

Lord Darnley proved a bad husband. He was unkind and brutal, a 
drunkard and profligate, and fond of low company. During a period 
of estrangement between him and Mary, the mighty earl of Bothwell 
had supported her with his political influence and his military power. 
After Darnley's death Bothwell was accused of being the instigator of 
the deed, but was acquitted by his peers — his accomplices in the crime 
it is said. A month later he seized the person of the queen, obtained a 
*' divorce " from his wife, to whom he was legally married, and forced 
the queen to consent to a union with him. Notwithstanding the fact 
that violence was resorted to, this affair gave plausibility to the charge 
of complicity in her husband's murder. This matter is not sufficiently - 
cleared up. However it may be, she abundantly atoned for her short- 
comings by her heroic death and by the patience shown in long im- 



410 THE BRITISH ISLES [§395 

prisonment.^ But all serious historians grant that her virtue is above 
suspicion. 

The Queen of England rejoiced. Mary Stuart, being the legiti- 
mate descendant of Henry VII, had a much better claim to the 
English crown than the daughter of Anne Boleyn. She would 
in any case be the next after Elizabeth on the English throne ; 
and the Protestants dreaded a Catholic succession. Hence the 
fugitive queen saw herself treated as a captive, and was for 
nineteen years dragged from prison to prison. Several risings 
in her favor resulted only in aggravating her captivity. She 
was finally tried on the charge of having conspired for the murder 
of Elizabeth. The trial was a farce. Mary was denied the 
most elementary privileges which are otherwise granted to the 
worst criminal. No witness, no original document, was pro- 
duced against her. But her condemnation had been resolved 
upon. Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded, 1587, in the hall of 
the castle of Fothcringhay. 

The Earl of Kent, when announcing to her the hour of her 
execution, betrayed the real cause of her death. ** Madam,'* 
he said, " your life would have been the death of our new 
religion, while your death — God grant it — will be its life." 

395. The Church of Scotland. — While in the power of her 
enemies in Scotland, less than a year before her flight across 
the border, Mary Stuart had, under protest, resigned the crown 
in favor of her infant son, James, for whom a regency was 

1 The following facts will show in what kind of society the friendless queen 
found herself in her capital, Edinburgh. When her intention to marry 
Darnley became known, a number of prominent Protestant noblemen, 
headed by her own half-brother, entered into a conspiracy for the purpose of 
dethroning the queen. Not long after the marriage was concluded, the 
same men combined with Darnley for the murder of Rizzio, the queen's 
secretary. Practically the same persons hatched the plot which resulted 
in the death of Darnley. They next helped Bothwell to get the queen into 
his power, and after this marriage conspired against both the queen and 
Bothwell. All this happened in the space of less than three years (1565- 
1568). , 



§395] THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND 411 

appointed. There were, for years after, two parties at daggers 
drawn, the " King's men " and the " Queen's men." English 
influence helped to keep the country in a state of unrest. After 
James had become of age, the new " Church " — the Kirk, as 
it is often styled in Scotland — fared ill at his hands. The 
innovators were chiefly Calvinists, who hated bishops and 
prelates (§ 369). But James retained, or rather reintroduced, 
the episcopal system after the English pattern, because he saw 
in it a prop of the throne. His " bishops " were consecrated in 
England (§ 385, note). But true-blue Calvinism retained its 
hold upon the bulk of the Scotch Protestants. Not until 1688, 
that is, after the revolution against James II (§ 460), was ''prel- 
acy" definitely abolished in Scotland. 

For Further Readings. — Guggenberger, H, §§267-269, 283-287, 
379-388, 392-395. 

Maxwell-Scott, The Tragedy of Fotheringhay, is a description, from 
original sources, of Queen Mary's prison life and execution. John 
Morris, S. J., Mary Queen of Scots (biography). 



CHAPTER XXIII 
FALSE AND TRUE REFORMATION 

396. Character of Protestantism. — The period we treat of is 
called the Reformation. But we must remember that ''Refor- 
mation" is a misnomer, perhaps the worst mankind has 
ever hit upon. It is based on the wrong supposition that the 
activity of Luther and the other innovators was a reform at 
all. It certainly was not. It was a revolution pure and simple. 
The so-called reformers did not insist upon the observance of 
the existing laws, but tried to subvert the authority which had 
given them. Under their hands, and as far as their power 
reached, the organization given by Christ to His Church (§ 20) 
disappeared. The beautiful system of the sacraments with their 
consoling and elevating influence no longer existed. No rays 
of sacredness shone around matrimony ; it was declared a 
** worldly thing," and its bonds were no longer indissoluble. 
We know how matrimony fared under Henry VIII. Luther 
went a step farther by declaring that even polygamy was not 
prohibited to Christians. The '' faith in Christ " was an easy 
means to obtain forgiveness of sins ; confession with contrition 
and purpose of amendment did not trouble people any more. 
And why should they worry about good works? "Faith" 
made all Christians equal in sanctity anyhow. 

397. No wonder that the effects of such a " gospel " were 
deplorable. The economic consequences we have seen in the 
case of England (§ 377). They were the same everywhere, 
though perhaps not so glaring. Let the great German re- 
formers tell us about the iA^ora/ results of the innovation. 

"As soon as our gospel began," writes Luther, "decency and mod- 
esty were done away with, and everybody wished to be perfectly 

412 



§ 398] FALSE AND TRUE REFORMATION 413 

free to do what he Uked." " The people are Hke pigs, so to speak ; dead 
and buried in constant drunkenness."^ And one of his followers com- 
plains that " those who have received God's Word and the Gospel are 
lawless, insensible to instruction, hardened in their old sinful life, as is 
evident from the adultery, usury, avarice, lying, cheating, and manifold 
wickedness which prevails. "^ 

398. The True Reformation. — Meanwhile the forces making 
for a true reformation were preparing to come to the front. 
About the middle of the sixteenth century popes with genuine 
zeal for the welfare of the Church promoted every endeavor of 
bishops and other able men for the betterment of clergy and 
laity. The greatest act in this reform work, however, was the 
Council of Trent. With several interruptions it lasted from 1545 
to 1563. It was composed of nearly three hundred bishops. 

The Council clearly defined all the doctrines which had been 
the object of so many attacks. Had the defenders of the 
Church been able, from the beginning of the Wittenberg troubles, 
to appeal to such precise and authoritative statements of 
Christian truth, they would no doubt have been more successful. 

1 Happily the specific teachings of Protestantism, which made such sad 
conditions inevitable, did not always receive the attention thev naturally 
attracted in the beginning. Lutherans of to-day, for instance, do not know 
the real Luther nor his real teachings. Luther himself, forgetful of his 
fundamental principles, wrote some popular books full of sound advice. 
After the first zeal for the new doctrines had spent itself and the heat of the 
combat subsided, common sense returned by way of fact to the old moral 
teachings of Christianity. Protestants who observe the commandments of 
God, Protestant families which never omit their common devotions, do 
not thereby show approval of the specific doctrines of Protestantism but 
bear testimony to the teachings and principles of the Catholic Church to 
which their ancestors have belonged. May the Good Shepherd keep all 
such good persons under his Divine Protection. 

2 Let the student find out which of the elements of civilization given 
to the world by Christianity were destroyed by Protestantism (§ 95). 
Compare also § 362. The religious confusion of these troublous times was 
one of the several causes of the appalling increase of witchcraft trials. Thou- 
sands of innocent persons, chiefly old women, suffered horrible tortures 
and death at the stake in Catholic as well as Protestant districts. Guggen- 
berger, II, §§ 291, 292; also §§288, 289. 



414 FALSE AND TRUE REFORMATION [§398 

At the same time the Council enacted wise reform laws cal- 
culated to prevent the recurrence of the conditions set forth in 
§ 346 ff. To secure a better education of the priests it pre- 
scribed the establishment of clerical seminaries. 

A principal factor for reformation outside the Council 
was the, revival of discipline in the older religious Orders, as 
far as it was needed, and the foundation of new ones. Among 
the latter are the Capuchin Fathers, who devoted themselves 
to the instruction of the faithful by means of missions ; the 
Ursuline Nuns, founded for the education of girls ; the Piarists 
for the education of boys. The most prominent of the new 
Orders, however, was the Society of Jesus, which owes its origin 
to St. Ignatius Loyola, a Spaniard. 

Its purpose is work for the Greater Glory of God in what- 
ever place the Holy Father may see fit to employ its members. 
Practically, there are four purposes to which the Order has chiefly 
devoted its energies ; namely, missions among the faithful in the 
Christian countries, missions for the conversion of pagans, the direction 
of spiritual retreats, and the education of the young in higher schools. 
Within a short time the Order grew into one of the greatest educational 
powers in the Catholic Church. Higher schools alone could supply the 
crying need for more laborers in the vineyard of the Lord. 

One of the first members of the Order, St. Francis Xavier, opened 
new fields for the Church by his missionary labors in India and Japan. 
He died while attempting the Christianization of China, 1552. Thirty 
years later the Christians in Japan numbered about 200,000 and after 
another fifty years, it is claimed, nearly two milHons. But two fierce 
persecutions, in which thousands suffered unheard-of torments for their 
Faith, destroyed, as it seemed for the time being, the flourishing young 
Church.i 

Blessed Peter Canisius, the first German Jesuit, became the second 
apostle of his country. It was principally through his activity as 
preacher, writer, and founder of colleges, that the progress of Protes- 
tantism was checked, and that provinces already lost were regained for 
the Catholic religion.^ 

^ See "The Catholic Church in Japan" in Casartelli's Sketches in History, 
especially the touching story of the "Discovery of the Christians." 

2 There is an instructive chapter, "The Catholic Reformation in Ger- 
many," in J. M. Stone's Studies from Court and Cloister. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

THE PERIOD OF RELIGIOUS WARS 

There were a number of bloody wars of long duration in Europe from 
the middle of the sixteenth to the middle of the seventeenth century. 
These are called the Religious Wars ; but hardly any of them fully 
deserves the name. With the people indeed religious motives were 
not lacking. Certainly in no war before or after, with the exception of 
the crusades, was so much emphasis laid upon the idea of defending 
the one religion or the other. The result of these wars, too, was of 
great religious consequence. Yet the prime movers as a rule were not 
animated by religious zeal. They rather used religion as a pretext for 
their attacks and as a means of rallying followers around their standards. 

A. The Revolution of the Netherlands 

399. The seventeen provinces of the Netherlands (§ 317) 
were one of the richest Spanish possessions. They, were liberally 
governed. Each province had its own diet, and there was a 
kind of common parliament, called the States General, which 
enjoyed extensive powers. A Regent General represented the 
Spanish king. The connection with the empire was little more 
than in name. 

The brisk commercial intercourse with foreign lands could not 
but result in an influx of Lutheran ideas from Germany and 
Calvinistic errors from France. Charles V as King of Spain 
had, with the consent of the States General, enacted some severe 
laws against religious innovations, and had introduced the 
Papal — not the Spanish — Inquisition. It is certain, too, 
that executions took place, though on the whole the religious laws 
do not seem to have been enforced very strictly. Religious 
difficulties alone could never have caused serious troubles. 

415 



416 



THE PERIOD OP" RELIGIOUS WARS [§399 



THE :netherlands 

at the Truce of 1609 

SCALE OF MILES _ 



lEheJSeven XJnited Provinces 
Jaht-Provinees still Retained by Spain 




§401] REVOLUTION OF THE NETHERLANDS 417 

if 
'400. One of the causes of the revolution was the character of 

Philip II. — He was personally without reproach in most 

important respects, devoted to the Catholic Church, frugal in 

bis habits, fully conscious of his duties as ruler, and capable of 

an enormous amount of work. But his greatest weakness was 

distrust of others, which often induced him to thwart the 

efforts of his most faithful servants. He moreo\^er lacked 

resoluteness ; important measures were frequently postponed 

for years. Though not at all of a proud mind, he show^ed 

coldness and reserve in dealing with his subjects. During 

his short stay in the Netherlands the natives could not 

but notice the great difference between him and Charles V, 

who had been born and bred among them, spoke their language, 

participated in their popular sports, and mingled with ease 

among all classes. In complete opposition to his father, 

Philip appointed Spanish nobles exclusively to posts in his 

wider empire and even to the highest offices in the Netherlands, 

as far as the choice rested with him. This, a very impolitic 

practice, lost him the affection of a powerful class, the nobles of 

the Netherlands. But before the revolution broke out, the 

government was carried on in strictest accordance with the 

privileges of the cities, nobles, and provinces. 

<101. The 'principal reason of the disturbances which were to 

distract the fair country ivas the ambitious and treacherous course 

of William of Orange, called Williain the Silent. 

Born a Lutheran, William was a Catholic at the court of Charles V, 
his greatest benefactor; acted as a Lutheran when dealing with 
Lutheran princes ; and finally fought, or rather pretended to fight, for 
the victory of Calvinism. He deeply offended Philip II by marrying 
the daughter of Maurice; the Elector of Saxony, the man who had in 
so dastardly a manner betrayed Charles V (§ 401). On this occasion he 
pledged himself to Philip that his wife would live as a Catholic, and to 
Maurice, that he himself would live as a Lutheran. 

Philip II provoked William's undying hatred by making him 
governor of Holland, and of two more of the richest provinces, 



418 THE PERIOD OF RELIGIOUS WARS [§402 

instead of giving him the coveted post of Regent General. It 
was William who directed the first revolutionary move, and 
though at times absent from the country, remained, through 
his extraordinary capacity for intriguing, the soul of the revolt- 
ing minority. Under his guidance this party grew from year 
to year. Several attempts at composing the difficulties would 
have succeeded but for his secret machinations. His aim was 
full sovereignty over the entire Spanish Netherlands or at least 
a considerable part of them. 

402. The Revolution. — On account of the increased spread 
of heresies, some of which were of a very pernicious character,^ 
Philip II caused the Regent General to renew the religious de- 
crees and urge their strict enforcement. By a public demon- 
stration the dissatisfied party, a small minority of nobles, 
demanded their withdrawal, and the Regent General thought it 
best to suspend them for a time. At once Calvinistic preachers 
crossed the French border in large numbers, followed by Hugue- 
not fugitives. Assisted by the mob of the cities they began a 
terrible devastation of churches and convents, and a destruc- 
tion of statues and paintings and other works of Flemish art. 
Philip II now committed the blunder of sending Duke Alva, a 
stern soldier, as his representative to the Netherlands (1567). 
Alva inaugurated a reign of terror. There were numerous execu- 
tions. Thousands of useful citizens fled the country (§ 388). 
The Spanish soldiers, who were irregularly paid, committed out- 
rages on friend and foe alike. But all this was child's play in 
comparison with the cruel persecution of Catholics with which 
the Calvinists retaliated, wherever they had the power. When 
Alva was recalled, the breach was by no means irreparable. On 
this as on later occasions the intrigues of William the Silent 
frustrated the reconciliation. 



1 For a description of one of them, Anabaptism, see Guggenberger, II, 
§ 356. 



§402] REVOLUTION OF THE NETHERLANDS 419 

In the further course of the struggle, Philip more than once left his 
Regents without the necessary support or recalled them when they were 
on the point of victory or pacification. At times all the provinces 
united against the Spanish power. As yet, however, no province 
aimed or pretended to aim at independence from Spain. But the 
northern provinces, foremost those under the governorship of William 
of Orange, more and more became the chief seat of the rebellion. There, 
too, Calvinism was propagated with all means of violence. Both sides 
performed deeds of heroic valor. Queen Elizabeth of England, the 
King of France, and other potentates, repeatedly found it in their 
interest to support the rebels. 

In 1578 Holland and the other northern provinces concluded 
the Union of Utrecht, which made Calvinism their official 
religion and expelled or executed the Catholics. These prov- 
inces soon abjured their allegiance to the King of Spain, and 
established themselves as The United Netherlands. William 
the Silent, however, had fallen the victim of a fanatical assassin, 
just when he thought he had reached his goal, the position of an 
independent sovereign. His son Maurice became his successor 
with the limited power of '' Stadholder " (president) of the 
republic. 

This is the beginning of the Dutch republic, also styled 
Holland fronl the most influential member of the little con- 
federation. For a long time, the position of Stadholder passed 
from father to son in the family of William of Orange. In 1815 
his descendants became hereditary kings of the Netherlands. 

During the war the little republic had enriched itself by 
plundering the Spanish fleets and colonies, and it soon built 
up a large colonial empire in the Indies.^ Its extensive trade 
for a while outstripped both English and Spanish commerce. 
It is greatly to its honor that even in the midst of its struggle 

1 In 1582 Philip II had taken possession of Portugal and all its colonies, 
basing his claim upon close relationship with the kings whose line had died 
out. It was chiefly the former Portuguese colonies that the Dutch seized 
upon. In 1640 an almost bloodless revolution again separated the two 
countries and placed a native Portuguese family upon the throne. 



420 THE PERIOD OF RELIGIOUS WARS [§403 

for political liberty it created, in the university of Leyden, a 
center of intellectual life. Here existed an intense scientific 
and literary activity, which, however, was marred by bitter 
religious feuds between two rival wings of Calvinism. For some 
time the Dutch were the best agriculturists and florists of 
Europe. 

The southern provinces remained faithful to Spain. In the 
course of time they became more generally known as Belgium. 
After many vicissitudes Belgium, since 1830, has formed an 
independent kingdom. 

j^ B. Other Spanish Affairs 

403. The Battle of Lepanto. — After the expedition of Charles 
V to Tunis (§ 365) the Turks had resumed their depredations 
upon the coasts of the Mediterranean. They burned villages far 
inland, and swept away thousands of Christians into slavery. 
While the Protestants of Germany, England, and other countries 
cursed the head of the Catholic Church as Anti-Christ, Pope 
St. Pius V brought about an alliance between himself, Spain, 
and the Republic of Venice against the common foes of Christen- 
dom. With a large fleet John of Austria, half-brother of Philip 
II, sailed out, and, Oct. 7, 1571, almost annihilated the Turkish 
fleet at Lepanto. Twelve thousand Christian rowers were 
freed from horrible slavery at the oar. 

The battle of Lepanto was the greatest naval battle the world 
had seen for fifteen hundred years. In importance it can be 
compared only with Salamis, Chalons, Constantinople, and 
Tours. It destroyed forever Turkish supremacy on the Medi- 
terranean.^ 

404. The Spanish Armada. — The support given by Elizabeth 
to the revolting provinces in the Netherlands, depredations 

iSee the brilliant description of this battle in E. K. Rawson, Twenty 
Famous Naval Battles or in Drane's Knights of St. John. 



§ 405] LEPANTO — THE MORISCOS 421 

upon Spanish shipping and Spanish colonies, and the execution 
of Mary Stuart finally moved Philip II, after much hesitation, 
to decide on a war with England. But Francis Drake, the 
ablest of the band of Elizabeth's licensed freebooters, ruined 
the first preparations by daringly sailing into the harbor of 
Cadiz and burning a large number of unprotected warships and 
vast stores of provisions. In 1588, however, Philip had fitted 
out an immense fleet, the " Invincible Armada," for an invasion 
of England. To the surprise of the world this gigantic effort 
came to naught — partly through terrible storms ; partly 
because the Spanish army in the Netherlands failed to cooperate 
with it ; partly and chiefly through the desperate attacks of the 
English craft which though much smaller in size were better 
manned and more dextrously handled. The scattered Spaniards 

— the encounters had taken place in the Channel — returned 
around Scotland and Ireland, strewing the coasts of these 
countries with the wrecks of their ships. 

With the defeat of the Armada begins the decline of the Spanish 
naval power. The way was prepared for the English colonization 
of America. 

405. The Expulsion of the Moriscos — Spain's Colonial 
Policy. — The numerous Moriscos, — descendants of the Moors, 

— living chiefly into the South of the peninsula, had remained 
Mohammedans at heart though they professed Christianity 
outwardly. Their close connection with Mohammedan powers 
made them, besides, a political danger. So Philip II finally 
resolved to force them to give up their national peculiarities, 
their dress, customs, and above all their language. This 
demand drove them into a revolution, in which they had 
reason to count upon the support of the sultan and that of 
France. In a fearful war they were overpowered and removed 
to other localities. Under Philip III they were finally expelled 
from Spain entirely. The economic consequences for the 
country were disastrous. It was impossible to replace this 



422 THE PERIOD OF RELIGIOUS WARS [§405 

industrious though small part of the population which had 
brought agriculture and manufacture to a high degree of 
perfection. Even to-day the districts abandoned by them have 
not recovered their ancient flourishing state. 

An ill-advised colonial policy, however, had a great deal to do 
with this deplorable result. Like all the countries of that time 
which possessed colonies, Spain aimed at extorting as much as 
possible from her rich provinces in America, and cut them 
off entirely from the rest of the world. Whatever the colonists 
desired they had to buy from the mother country. Hence all 
products of Spain, however inferior in quality, were sure to find a 
purchaser in the colonies. There was, therefore, no incentive 
to improve the methods of production. On the other hand, 
enterprising Spaniards were seized by the emigration fever and 
preferred, as they thought, '' getting rich quick " in the colonies 
to extending the productive area in their native land. In 
general the rich colonies and the silver fleets which they sent 
year after year to fill the king's exchequer much more harmed 
than benefited the land. Mismanagement and the strictly 
autocratic government which resisted every check did the 
rest to keep Spain upon the downward path. In European 
politics this country never again played the part as under 
Philip II. 

This decline was not caused by the Catholic religion but by the 
erroneous theories, to which all the states of those times were 
more or less addicted. If the result of these theories was more 
disastrous for Spain than it was for other nations, England, for 
instance, we should remember that the colonies of Spain were 
so much larger and also richer in useful and desirable products, 
and that in consequence their influence upon the mother 
country was bound to be more general and thoroughgoing. 
At the same time, however, Spain never forgot that she was 
Catholic. The Christianization of the natives in her colonies 
was never lost sight of in her legislation. Her colonial laws, 



§406] THE HUGUENOT WARS IN FRANCE 423 

it is true, were frequently disobeyed by the higher and lower 
officials in the far-distant countries, and the natives were 
occasionally treated with cruelty. Yet, notwithstanding all 
this, there is now, to mention one striking example, a Catholic 
population of seven million native Filipinos as a result of her 
colonial policy. And even in the vast extent of the countries of 
South America with its tens of millions of natives, the number of 
pagan Indians is small in proportion with those Christianized.^ 

C. Religious Wars in France 

406. The Huguenot Wars in France. — In France the Prot- 
estants, chiefly Calvinists, were called Huguenots, a word of 
uncertain origin and meaning. At no time was their number 
larger than a small minority of the population ; they were, 
however, proportionately very numerous among the higher 
and highest nobility, including members of the royal family. 
These saw in the new faith an opportunity for enriching them- 
selves and a pretext for embarrassing the actual rulers. Thus 
began a series of eight bloody wars (1562-1598) in which fair 
France was frightfully devastated. For many of the partici- 
pants these wars were truly religious wars, while most of the 
leaders generally were actuated by political motives. 

One of the most talked of incidents in history, the Massacre of St. 
Bartholomew's Night, took place after the third of these wars. The 
king's mother, the unscrupulous Catherine of Medici, who had been 
siding alternately with the Catholics and the Huguenots, noticed with dis- 
may that Admiral Coligny, the chief leader of the latter, was rapidly 
dislodging her in the favor of her son. King Charles IX. She hired an 
assassin to kill the admiral. On the occasion of a solemn princely wed- 
ding, celebrated at Paris, he was fired upon (Aug. 22) but was merely 

^ On the Spanish colonial policy see Guggenberger, II, §§ 405-424. 
Do not fail to read §423, which briefly treats of the Indian Reductions, a 
kind of Indian Reservations, in which in the course of about a century and 
a half more than a million Indians were Christianized and civilized. Or see 
the article "Reductions of Paraguay" in Catholic Encyclopedia. 



424 THE PERIOD OF RELIGIOUS WARS [§407 

wounded in the wrist. This roused the fury of the Huguenot chieftains 
to the highest pitch. They threatened that "CoHgny's arm was to cost 
40,000 other arms." Terrified to the utmost the queen mother con- 
vinced the king that neither his nor her hfe was safe, and that only a 
sudden blow could avert the gravest dinger from the royal family. 
Very reluctantly the king consented to a g3n3ral massacre of the leading 
Huguenots. Thus, on the 24th of August, more than a thousand 
Huguenots fell in Paris, and later on a large number in the provinces. 
No religious motives had suggested this hastily planned and precipitately 
carried out butchery. — For more details and a fuller explanation con- 
sult Guggenberger, II, §§ 323-329. 

407. Henry IV. — The eighth war was practically a contest 
for the succession to the French crown. Henry of Bourbon 
had the best claim. ^ But he was a Huguenot, and he saw that 
for this reason he could never hope to gain the adherence of 
Catholic France. His religious convictions were not very 
deep, though he cannot be said to have been a hypocrite. 
Once before he had already, under pressure, professed himself a 
Catholic. He now took pains to have himself instructed, and, 
in 1593, was received back into the Catholic Church. Soon he 
was generally recognized as Henry IV. With him the House of 
Bourbon ascended the throne of France, to which all the French 
kings have belonged until the end of royalty in the middle of the 
nineteenth century. 

In 1598 Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes, by which he 
granted to his former coreligionists liberty of conscience, a 
limited right of public worship, and many political privileges. 
Though in his private life he was no credit to the Church, the 
French nation has reason to look upon him as one of its great 
kings. During the protracted civil wars many of the great 

1 The House of Valois (§ 281, note) had furnished the rulers of France 
until the accession of Henry IV. The House of Bourbon was another side 
hne of the Capetians, descending from Robert, a son of St. Louis IX. Henry 
Bourbon was already king of the little realms of Navarre and B6arn, which 
under him became parts of France. On the Huguenot Wars see Guggen- 
berger, II, §§ 308-340. 



§407] 



HENRY IV 



425 




Henry IV Confiding the Government to the Queen. ^ — From the 
painting by Rubens in the Louvre. Between the royal pair is seen the 
future king, Louis XIII. 



426 THE PERIOD OF RELIGIOUS WARS [§408 

feudatories had regained much of their medieval ascendency 
to the detriment of the central power. France was on the point 
of breaking up into small states, like Germany. This danger was 
averted by Henry IV's accession. The serious endeavors of 
Philip II, too, to unite France with Spain were thus frustrated. 
With the assistance of his sagacious minister, the Duke of Sully, 
Henry IV set himself to restore prosperity to the desolated 
country. Roads were built ; new trades were fostered. As far 
as he could help it, he used to say, the poorest peasant should 
have a fowl in the pot every Sunday. 

His great plans of conquest, however, were not destined to be 
realized. He had concluded an alliance with England and with 
the Protestants of Holland and Germany for a war against the 
Hapsburg emperor. When just setting out to join his army, he 
was assassinated by a half-witted Catholic fanatic. 

408. Richelieu. — Henry IV's son, Louis XIII, came to the throne as 
a boy of nine years. Anarchy again raised its head ; but France was 
saved by the commanding genius of Cardinal Richelieu, who became the 
chief minister of the young king. Richelieu's statesmanship was guided 
solely by political motives. Within the kingdom he crushed the great 
nobles and essentially promoted the "Absolutism of the crown. In the 
Thirty Years' War he aided the German Protestants against the Catholic 
emperor, and so secured a chance to seize German territory (§§ 410, 
412), while in France he curtailed by force of arms the privileges of the 
Huguenots, because they obstructed his plans of centralization. 

D. The Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648 

^ 409. The Period before the War. — The Religious Peace at 
Augsburg (§ 366 ) did not settle the differences between the 
Catholics and Protestants of Germany. The successors of 
Charles V in the empire were unable to prevent the Protestant 
princes from encroaching upon the possessions of the Catholics. 
The territories of two archbishops and fifteen bishops and those 
of hundreds of abbeys and similar institutions fell into their 
hands. 



§410] THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 427 

Meanwhile the Council of Trent came to a close (§ 398). But 
it was with difficulty that the Hapsburg emperors kept Protes- 
tantism from overrunning their own hereditary dominions. The 
number of defections from the Catholic religion in the Austrian 
dominions, above all in Bohemia, increased from year to year. 

In 1608 a number of Protestant princes, chiefly Calvinists, 
concluded the aggressive ''Evangelical Union" with Frederick, 
the Count Palatine, as their head and King Henry IV of France 
as protector. The following year most of the Catholics opposed 
to it the '' Catholic League " under Maximilian of Bavaria. 
The Catholic League of course sided with the emperor. Between 
these two alliances the war broke out, though in the course of 
the thirty years they gradually disappeared from the scene. 
The emperors, Ferdinand II (1619-1637) and Ferdinand III 
(1637—1657), were able men, and though sincerely Catholic 
meant to respect the privileges which the Protestants had 
wrested from Charles V. Had there been no foreign interfer- 
ence, the war would most probably have ended in a complete 
victory of the Catholic party, and Protestantism would have 
practically been reduced to the extent it had in 1555. 

410. The War Began in Bohemia. — Its first period, the Bo- 
hemian War, may be said in some sense to have been exclusively 
German, though the Protestant party was liberally subsidized 
by France, England, and Holland. The other periods show by 
their very names which powers openly entered the field against 
the Catholic emperor. They are known as the Danish, Swedish, 
and Franco-Swedish Wars. 

The pious and honest Tilly, " conqueror in twenty-two 
battles," and the resourceful, ingenious, but ambitious Wallen- 
stein, who turned traitor to his sovereign, were the most promi- 
nent generals on the emperor's side. But unquestionably the 
greatest military genius of the time was Gustavus Adolphus, 
King of Sweden. Within two years he had nearly all Germany 
at his feet. He fell in battle when at the height of his power. 



428 THE PERIOD OF RELIGIOUS WARS [§411 

It should be noted that the armies which fought this war consisted 
largely of mercenaries, who did not necessarily belong to the nation 
they represented. He who paid best and permitted the most unlimited 
plunderings had the largest number of soldiers. The struggle more and 
more degenerated into a ruthless destruction of life and property. The 
principle that " war must support itself " was openly recognized and 
acted upon by several of the most successful leaders. 

411. The calamities the war brought upon Germany were 
monstrous. — Season by season, for a generation of human life, 
armies of ruthless freebooters harried the land with fire and 
sword. The peasant found that he toiled only to feed robbers 
and to draw them to outrage and torture his family ; so he ceased 
to labor, and became himself robber or camp-follower. Half 
the pojjulation and tivo thirds the movable property of Germany 
were swept away. In many large districts, the facts were worse 
than this average. The Duchy of Wurtemberg had fifty thou- 
sand people left out of five hundred thousand. Populous cities 
shriveled into hamlets ; and for miles upon miles, former ham- 
lets were the lairs of wolf packs. 

Even more destructive was the result upon industry and 
character. Whole trades, with their long-inherited skill, 
passed from the memory of men.^ Land tilled for centuries 
became wilderness. Large parts of the population that sur- 
vived the war came to manhood without schools or churches or 
law or orderly industry. 

412. The Peace of Westphalia, 1648, which ended the war, 
was concluded after five years' deliberation at Miinster, the 
principal city of Westphalia. Almost all the states of Europe 
were represented. 

(1) It reaffirmed, with some restrictions, the Religious Peace 
of Augsburg, and constituted a Germany which was almost 
equally divided between Catholics and Protestants. On the 

1 An instance of this is the wonderful old German wood carving. A genu- 
ine old piece of German cabinetwork is easily placed before 1618, because the 
war simply wiped out the skill and the industry. 



§ 412] THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA 429 

whole, Catholicity was better off now than it had been before 
the war. 

(2) The United Netherlands and Switzerland were recognized 
as independent states. France had her acquisition of Metz, 
Toul, and Verdun (§ 366) sanctioned, and, besides, acquired 
the greater part of Alsace. Sweden, whose power already 
extended around the entire northern and most of the eastern 
Baltic Sea, obtained possessions in northern Germany which 
controlled the mouths of the Oder, Elbe, and Weser rivers, — 
the mouths of the Rhine were in the power of Holland. 

(3) Within the empire there were many territorial adjustments, 
mostly in favor of Protestant princes. In the districts thus 
acquired, however, the religious status was not to be altered. 
The empire itself, although retaining the forms of an elective 
monarchy, was changed into a mere confederacy under the 
presidency of the emperor. There were some three hundred 
states. The diet, described in § 313, soon came to remain, in 
session perpetually. Questions of war and peace, of armaments 
and fortifications, were henceforward to be decided by this 
clumsy assembly. 

It is indeed remarkable that even in this distracted condition Germany 
was still a factor to be counted with, that she exerted some power in 
resisting the attacks of Louis XIV, and that, under Austrian leadership, 
she succeeded, sixty years later, in winning back Hungary and Transyl- 
vania from Turkish subjugation. Of the former imperial power over 
Italy, however, there was not even a trace left, with the exception of 
certain districts which, at times, belonged directly to Austria. 

Exercises. (1) Dates: 1517, 1534 (Calvin, Apostasy of Henry 
VIII), 1545-1563, 1558-1603 (Elizabeth), 1588, 1648. 

(2) List of terms for brief explanation : Nepotism, Tetzel, Geneva, 
Armada, Pilgrimage of Grace, etc. 

(3) Describe the extent of each of the greater European powers at 
the end of the Religious Wars. 



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